Star Fox: Subspecies
by ZombieAxeHero
Summary: Just 3 years after Andross nearly destroyed Corneria, the Lylat System is under a new threat, and everyone Marcus loves is caught in the middle of it. As Kursed launches a full-out war against the Cornerian Army just to get her revenge on the McCloud family, Marcus begins to fear that someone he holds dear is going to die, and there's nothing he can do to stop it.
1. Introduction

**INTRODUCTION**

A nightmare can begin and end with little more than a choice. A choice can lead to disaster or eternal peace, but peace comes with a price.

Pick your poison.

Many years ago, one woman made a choice that led to disaster. Nations were destroyed, people died, and she slipped further down the path to insanity. Then one man came to save her. He succeeded and peace reigned…but it was not to last.

Evil never dies. It grows inside of you and eats away at you until it takes on a form of its own and manipulates you to its will…what? That's not what happens? Excuse me…for being right.

When the woman was saved, she tore the evil out of herself, returned to her old life, married the man she came to love, and mothered a son whose sheer force of will helped him to surpass impossible odds. The evil meanwhile had taken on a form of its own. It became a monster, and like any monster, it wanted revenge.

Its hunger made it long for the son…longing to seek him out…grab him…hold him in front of its face…watch him cry and scream in terror…smile…and feast.

My words should not be taken lightly, because to deny the evil only makes it stronger. The monster inside can't be outfought, outdone, outmatched, outrun, or reasoned with. It simply wants to find you and eat you alive.

This story is of such disaster. Anything I've ever said or anything anyone else has ever said is not enough to describe it. It must be shown…and it will be.

Perhaps the evil can be destroyed...perhaps it can be abolished and fought back by the sheer force of will…

…or perhaps it's already too late for any of that.

My name is Marcus James McCloud…

…and in a "war to end all wars", you can guarantee that someone you love isn't going to survive long enough for you to say goodbye.

**STAR FOX: SUBSPECIES**

_Run with that for as long as you can, 'cause Chapters 1-3 ain't comin' for a while. And REMEMBER: this story may be rated M, but NO SEX!_


	2. 1: Hell Thaws Out

_Well, here it is. The promised sequel to Star Fox: Next Gen. Like I said, it's gonna be darker. Bloody, vulgar and sexual...wait, WHAT?!_

_Well, anyway, for this one I'm just gonna upload chapters whenever I feel like it. You can count on this one being longer than Next Gen. As for how much longer? I guess we'll find out._

CHAPTER ONE

**Hell Thaws Out**

Darkness. All around her. That was all she could see, just darkness.

How she hated it.

Krystal shivered and hugged herself. There was no breeze but she still felt so cold. She couldn't move her legs, and all she felt was the loud thumping of her heart in her chest. Why did this kind of darkness make her feel so cold…and so alone?

Or wait…was she alone?

Her ears pricked up when the voice echoed in her ears.

"You lying, traitorous bitch…"

That voice…it was her own voice...no…it wasn't. It was the voice of something that she thought she'd torn out of her a long time ago, but clearly it wanted vengeance. What wouldn't after being neglected by the thing that basically spoon-fed them for nearly their whole life.

It was her…Krystal's evil twin.

"Kursed." she whispered in a panicked tone.

"Oh, you remembered my name. I'm so flattered." Kursed said cynically.

Krystal looked all around. No matter where she looked, she couldn't find the source of the voice. Then again, why in God's endless universe would she WANT to find the source of the voice?

"I can't believe you left me in the dirt after everything I did for you." the evil one growled. "I made you strong, I made you smarter…"

"You made me into a monster, and I'm glad I let that part of me go."

"Don't you remember those wonderful feelings of satisfaction when you sliced all those criminals to ribbons? Or how you terrorized the entire Lylat System just to suit yourself?"

"I don't want to remember that…I don't even want to be told it happened. I'm happy with the life I have now."

"So you'd choose Fox and Marcus over me…you make me sick."

Krystal heard a loud slither-like sound echo through the air, but she didn't turn. She just looked straight ahead, as though Kursed was standing right in front of her.

"I frighten them just as much as I frighten you, you know." Kursed hissed. "Let me go on record as say that I love fear. Fear makes me happy…and it makes torture and death all the more delicious.

Something that looked an awful lot like blood began oozing toward Krystal. Within moments, it washed over her feet and stained her fur a deep and sickening red. Krystal wanted to run, but what good would that do her? She couldn't run from Kursed…NOBODY could run from Kursed!

"I am the thing that keeps all three of you up at night after you've had a nightmare. I am the reason you fear for Marcus' safety whenever he's called to duty. I never rest, but you already knew that, didn't you? That just makes you more afraid, and me more satisfied when I finally have my chance to kill you right in front of your family."

"You won't kill me…not while Fox is around."

"That pathetic husband of yours is the cause of everything wrong in your life. Marrying him was almost as idiotic as having Marcus."

"H-how dare you?! No one insults my husband OR my son!"

Kursed laughed.

"Getting angry, eh? C'mon. Get a little angrier. It's so entertaining. It's music to my ears, really."

Krystal growled. There was nothing she could do

"Besides, you really think he's going to stop me? He couldn't even tell you why he left you so long ago to begin with and then you just decide to let him back into your life?"

"I was being selfish. I'm happy with the life I have with him now."

"Oh really? How so, dare I ask?"

"In ways that surpass the extents of the universe. Though what's the point in explaining it to you? It's not like you'd know."

"C'mon. Say it. I dare you."

"You can't feel love…and you made me hurt all those innocent people."

"I beg your pardon, but did you just say innocent people? They were scum! Fox is scum! Marcus is scum! Hell, YOU'RE starting to turn into scum! Look at you! You're a gutless coward blinded by the distraction that you call love!"  
"You have a heart of stone! When someone is in love, every day with the one they devote themselves to is a new adventure, every touch is another fading stress, and every kiss is another blessing. I love Fox and Marcus, and they're the only family I have left now, so I'll protect them from you as best I can."

"You'll protect them from me? That's probably the most idiotic thing I've ever heard. Stupid lovesick bitch. When the time comes you'll have only one option anyway: join me."

"Over my dead body!"

"That can be arranged."

Krystal was too focused on yelling at Kursed to notice that two long and bony tentacles were slowly slithering toward her through the stream of crimson blood, just level with her ankles.

"Even if it takes an eternity, the power that dwells within Marcus will be mine once again. I don't care if I have to kill everyone in the Lylat System to do it."

"You lay one finger on my son and I'll rip your head off!"

"Not if I rip yours off first."

The tentacles wrapped around Krystal's ankles and pulled her down on her stomach. She fell flat on her face in the blood, causing it to splash up and stain her face.

"I live off of the fear of those I choose," Kursed cackled. "And DING DING! Looks like we have a winner! And this time, Fox can't save you."

"This can't happen…it's just a dream!"  
"Not a dream, sister! A NIGHTMARE!"

With Kursed's last two words, the tentacles strengthened their grip on her ankles and began dragging her away toward Kursed's towering form behind her. Krystal buried her fingernails into the ground, trying to keep herself from being pulled to her doom.

Now she couldn't tell if this was a dream or not. It was so horrifying that it seemed almost as real as the fur on her body. She wanted to call out for help, but she knew that would just make Kursed all the more satisfied.

Besides, when Kursed was involved, help wouldn't come. She'd see to that.

Finally, Krystal couldn't hold on any longer. She lost her grip on the ground and let out a blood-curdling scream as she was pulled into the darkness.

**Awakening…**

Krystal screamed one last time before her eyes snapped open and her head darted up.

She wasn't being dragged across the floor through a river of blood to her death. She was sitting in her bed, in her room, in her house, staring into her husband's green and worried eyes.

"Krystal, what's wrong?!" Fox asked with a concerned tone in his voice. "Are you alright?!"

From the way he was dressed, it seemed he had just gotten home from the bar with his friends. He had come running upstairs be the looks of it as soon as he had heard Krystal moaning and screaming. Krystal herself couldn't answer. She couldn't stop trembling.

Once Fox had put a hand on her shoulder, she pulled him into a loving embrace. And embrace that made her feel like nothing and no one could hurt her.

"I…I just had the worst nightmare of my life." she whispered, nearly choking on her own fear.

Fox returned the embrace and stroked his wife's soft head. He hated to see her so scared and upset. One thing he knew was that he could cheer her up somehow.

"It's alright." he assured her. "It was just a dream. However bad it was, the reality is that you're safe here with me."

Krystal ignored his statement and told Fox exactly what she had seen. Fox listened attentively, and once Krystal mentioned Kursed, his ears pricked up in alarm.

"But how could that happen?" he asked her once she had finished talking. "I thought Marcus used the Seal of Spirits on her."

"That's exactly what I thought." Krystal fearfully replied, tears starting to well up in her eyes again. "But somehow I think…she's broken. One of the strongest of all seals and she broke it in just a few years. "All the torture she brought to Marcus and us…it's going to start all over again and get even…"

Before she could finished, Fox interrupted her with a kiss. Krystal suddenly lost all interest in what she had been saying before. Just as she had said in her dream, every kiss form him was another blessing, and that blessing gave her the calm mind that she needed at that moment.

When Fox finally drew away, he took her hand and looked sternly into her eyes.

"That monster isn't gonna come anywhere near you as long I live. That's one of thousands of reasons I married you in the first place: to keep you safe. You know I'd never let you go just to save myself, right?"

Krystal half-smiled. She was glad to hear that Fox was willing to risk life and limb for her safety, but he had sadly missed the point.

"It's not me I'm worried about."

"Huh?...oh. Don't worry. Marcus has the greatest potential I've ever seen. And as long as our love is with him, Kursed will never be able to lay a finger on him. Besides, he's always got the rest of the team to back him up, doesn't he?"

Chase Toad, Anna Marie Grey, Damalgo, Peter Cornelius Dengar, and Coyote Lorraine O'Donnell. Marcus' Star Fox teammates, his best friends, and his girlfriend in Coyote's case. The treated him like family. So did Falco Lombardi and Katherine "Katt" Monroe (or, I suppose, Katt Lombardi seeing as how the two had gotten married some time ago). They'd stuck with Marcus through life and limb in gruelling missions that Krystal was always worried he'd never come back from, but he always did. They worked together to get out of sticky situations, and their bond never faltered for as long as they stood their ground against impossible odds.

"Yeah, you're right." Krystal finally said with a smile. "Just call it a mother's concern for her little angel."  
"Happens to the best of 'em."

At that moment, the door opened. The two looked over and spotted the only other person in the house. Wearing a T-shirt and pyjama pants was their 19-year old son Marcus James McCloud. He stood there for a few moments, then slipped his hands in his pockets.

"So the THING is back, huh?" he asked.

Krystal didn't want to look Marcus in the eye and tell him that the thing he should have been the most afraid of was coming to get him yet again, but he had the same hypnotizing gaze that she had which forced nearly everyone to tell the truth to him. She couldn't resist it, either, especially seeing how much he meant to her.

"I'm afraid so." she admitted with a sigh.

Marcus stepped into the room and sat down on his parents' bed. He looked at them both for a few minutes before giving them a warm smile.

"You guys worry too much." he said.

"I don't think we worry enough, sport." Fox replied. "You nearly got yourself killed three years ago, and trust me when I say that Kursed is much worse than Andross could ever be."

"Kursed, schmursed. I'll tell you one thing; she's all talk and no action. She sent a dark clone of myself to bring me to her instead of coming to get me herself. If that tells me anything, it's that she doesn't like to fight her own battles."

"Marcus, just because she didn't come to fight you herself before doesn't mean she won't do it now."

"Then let her. I never go down without a fight."

Fox smiled. Marcus was arrogant, but that's exactly what made him willing to stick through a fight until the end. That, and he was man enough to fight his way out of trouble if he absolutely needed to, not unlike Fox himself.

"They grow up so fast." he thought.

That wasn't to say Marcus wasn't scared of Kursed before. ON the contrary, he was originally scared to death of her, but he had trained himself spiritually, and eventually, he began to fear little to nothing at all. He had sworn an oath to himself that the next time she tried to torture him, he'd kill her. He didn't care how he did it or that Kursed was in a way his mother. He simply knew that the universe was far better off without him.

"I'm your son, remember?" he spoke up. "I have you guys. I've got Chase, Anne, Pete, Al, and Coyote, too. There's dozens of people watching my back every day, and knowing that is enough to keep some evil spirit from taking me down. I'm more scared about what might happen to them as opposed to me. "

Krystal smiled at his words. The true words of a young hero.

"Your bravery surprises even me sometimes." she said to him. "You always have the courage to stand up to what is wrong and make it right, no matter what the consequences are."

"Y'know, I've seen brave, but you…" Fox said. "You're straight up courageous."

Marcus smirked and scratched at the back of his head.

"Well, that's not to say I don't have the help of a loving family." he said, glancing at them.

The three of them shared a group hug.

"Sometimes we just wish we could be as brave as you." Fox said.

"Hey, you guys were brave enough to bring me into this world and raise me like a mother and father should. That's good enough for me."

Marcus stood up and walked towards the door.

"In the meantime, I better hit the sack. You know how pepped up Coyote gets on Valentine's Day."

"Alright. Good-night, dear." Krystal said.

"Sweet dreams, sport." said Fox.

Marcus looked back at them for a second with a mischievous grin.

"Don't you two stop being adorable."

Fox and Krystal laughed, forcing Marcus to smirk again before closing the door and letting the two be by themselves. On the way back to his room, Marcus' smirk had vanished and had been replaced with a frown and clenched fists.

"You won't take me alive, Kursed." he muttered to himself. "Next time, the son will surmount the mother. Come for me. I dare you."

He grabbed the doorknob, and before he closed the door and got in bed, he finished it.

"I double dare you, motherfucker."


	3. 2: In Your Face Disgrace

CHAPTER TWO

**In Your Face Disgrace**

**Valentine's Day (a.k.a. February 14****th****), 2057**

**Toads' House**

"Three seconds on the clock, Toad goes in for a layup." Chase chimed.

Marcus' best friend dribbled the basketball up the driveway toward the hoop above the garage door, imitating the countless basketball stars he was a fan of.

"He shoots!"

He threw the ball. It bounced off the backboard and slipped cleanly through the hoop.

"HE SCORES!"

He threw his arms up so quickly that it nearly knocked his infamous black fedora off his head.

"And the crowd goes wild!" he cheered, quickly mimicking crowd cheering.

"Well done, Michael Jordan." Marcus joked as he caught the ball. "When do you plan on retiring?"

"Never."

"Keep dreamin', buddy."

Chase straightened his hat before answering.

"It might happen! You should always have some sort of fall back, right?"

"'It might happen.' T'cha, and monkeys might fly outta my butt."

"Great. _Wayne's World _quote. All for the lols."

"Did you just say 'lol'?!"

Marcus took a shot. The ball bounced off the rim and back into his hands.

"Dammit…" he muttered before continuing the conversation. "Anyway, think about it. You're on the Star Fox team, which is probably one of the most well-paying jobs this side of Zoness. Plus you're my best friend and I'm the leader of said team." (Here he slam-dunked the ball and passed it back to Chase). "Getting fired should be the least of your concerns."

"Just a thought."

"Besides, you've got personal problems to deal with."

"Like what?"

"Anna. You and Anna."

"Oh, don't start bringing that up."

"I have to. She's got the hots for you and after three years you still haven't asked her out! Pardon my whining but that is the definition of pathetic."

"What're you talking about?"

Marcus slapped himself in the face before continuing.

"Dude, whenever she brings up anything involving your relationship with her, you get all tongue-tied and start acting like a friggin' zombie! It's ridiculous!"

Chase flushed bright red. He knew Marcus had him by the balls there, but he still built up the nerve to argue.

"Wouldn't you do the same thing if Coyote started flirting with you every time you hung out from now on? You'd get pretty flustered, too!"

"Oh, you mean I'd do this?"

Marcus stretched out his arms, bugged his eyes out and started stuttering.

"Anna, I…gah…urk…I…bleh!"

Chase started steaming.

"Alright, then, bigshot! Next time we hang out with the girls, I'll engage Anna in a proper conversation."

"If by next time you mean in ten seconds, then yes."

"You say what now?!"

Much to Chase's dismay as he turned to where Marcus was glancing, at that moment Anna Grey was walking up the sidewalk along with her cousin Coyote O'Donnell. Two lovely young girls, both age 19 and having a crush on Chase and Marcus respectively. As mentioned previously, however, Marcus had been more successful in terms of making advances with Coyote, partly because she had been smitten with him for quite a while now.

When the girls caught sight of the boys, they smiled and waved before running up the driveway toward them.  
"Hey girls." Marcus said.

"Hey, Mark." Anna replied before looking at Chase with her best bedroom face and coyly saying, "Hi, Chase."

Chase tried to speak, but he got flustered yet again and out came the worthless babbling.

"Uhh…hi, Anne…how're…"

"There's a word for that. What was it now…" Coyote joked. "Oh, yeah. Fail."

Chase started steaming again, this time biting his lip so hard that it started to turn white.

"So what're you boys up to?" Anna asked.

"Nothin' much. Just playing basketball, talking about a few things."

Chase shot Marcus a look of pure venom. Marcus chuckled under his breath and looked away.

"Not that they involved either of you."

Anna devilishly grinned at Chase.

"How about a little game of two-on-two, then? If you boys think you're man enough to do it, that is." she said with a sly wink

Chase started stuttering again.

"Uhh…sounds awesome, except…I…"

Fortunately, a defense mechanism kicked in…sort of. It put him in some pain in a particular place.

"…think I'm gettin' the runs! BATHROOM!"

He dashed back to the house and slammed the door after him. Anna rolled her eyes.

"I'll go with him. I think he and I could use a bit of a good talking-to." she said before she proceeded toward the house.

Once Anna left, Marcus and Coyote glanced at each other.

"Well, THAT was awkward." Coyote chuckled.

"Tell me about it." Marcus smirked.

They two shared a loving embrace with huge grins on their faces.

"Happy Valentine's Day." Marcus quickly said.

"Thanks, Marky."

"You're still callin' me that, eh? By the way, when did you get a haircut?"

"Three days ago. Thought I'd harden up a little bit…you know, 'cause I ain't gettin' any softer."

She really had spiced herself up a little bit. She had extended her eyes with a cat-eye effect on her eyeshadow, and in her right ear she had a skull and crossbones earring. Then there was what Marcus has brought up: her hair. The last time he had seen her, she had a spiky ponytail with a strike of colour going through it. Now it was all white with faint flecks of silver (its natural hue) and had been cut down to a bobcut, not unlike Krystal's.

"But, yeah, those two do look really cute together." Coyote commented. "It'll be a real shame if they never hook up at some point in their lives."

"Hell yeah. If I could talk to Chase right now, I'd tell him to get a move on before you-know-who tries his own moves out on Anna."  
"Who-know-who…what, you mean Pete? The dude's 24. You don't think he'd stoop THAT low, do you?"

"I'd consider the possibility. Remember, my dad's seven years older than my mom."

"Yeah, but your mom and dad look great together. Pete and Anne wouldn't."

Marcus smirked. She was right…she was ALWAYS right. And he wasn't just admitting that to be nice. He actually did think she was a lot smarter than him. Most people did, and if you didn't like it, Coyote would tear your head off…just kidding! But seriously.

"Really does seem like Anne's the dominant one in the relationship, though, judging by the way Chase gets around her." Coyote said

Marcus stifled a laugh. Coyote shot him a glance.

"What's so funny?"

"Come on, really? Anna dominating Chase? That's like saying your brother's favourite band is Children of Bodom!"

"It might happen!"

"T'cha! And monkeys might…I already said that. What I mean is that from what I've learned in Science class…"

"You only went to school until you were ten!"  
"True, but from what I learned, boys are genetically superior to girls."

Coyote gasped out of disgust and frowned.

"Are you calling me weak?!"  
"I didn't say that…but yes."

Coyote growled through her clenched teeth, making sure her fangs could be seen.

"You may be a good pilot…okay, a freakin' AWESOME pilot, but that doesn't mean you're tougher than me!"

"It doesn't? Then prove it!"

An idea popped into the young wolf's head and she grinned evilly before cracking her knuckles.

"Alright, then. I will. I know exactly how to handle this."

"Go ahead. Make my day."

She leaned forward and whispered in his ear.

"You and I are gonna fight."

"We've done that before and I've beaten you twice."

"Not a dogfight. An actual fight on the ground with nothing but our bare hands."

Then of course Marcus got cold feet. He was shocked that someone was challenging him to a fight, and he was more shocked and slightly embarrassed that it had been Coyote, his girlfriend of nearly three years. He didn't have any problem with hitting a girl if he had to, but this was his girlfriend! Like he had thought before, she didn't have her father's claws, but she could still get pretty dangerous when she wanted to.

Finally, he furrowed his brow and boldly stated: "No way, no how! I'm not gonna hit you!"

"I didn't say you'd have to hit me. We'll just have us a little wrestling match."

"Pff! Forget it! I don't need to fight you to prove I'm stronger, anyway."

"Fine. You're right."

"That's right and…wait…what?"

Coyote turned her back to him with a shrug.

"You're right. Wrestling is for pussies."

Marcus smirked.

"Reverse psychology, eh?" he thought.

He made sure she still had her back turned, then rushed forward and prepared to body slam her. However, right as he charged, she performed a nimble backflip over him that made him think "ninja" in a second.

Then again, this was the girl that could suddenly appear right behind him and disappear with one quick jump.

"As planned." she mocked, sinking into a fighting stance with one arm forward. Marcus smirked and did the same.

"Basic wrestling rules?" he asked.

"Since it's Valentine's Day, let's add a cute little twist. Whoever gets the other person to the ground AND kisses them on the lips first is the winner."

"Let's get started before I get bored and leave, alright?"

They crouched down and prepared to lunge.

"Ding-ding!" yelled Coyote.

The two lunged at each other…and collided in such a force that it sent them skittering a few feet away from each other. They shook the stars out of their eyes and looked at each other dizzily.

"Well, wasn't THAT a great way to kick things off…" Coyote muttered sarcastically.

"You're tellin' me."

They jumped back to their feet and went at it again. This time, Marcus ducked through Coyote's legs and grabbed her from behind. She retaliated by bending forward and sending him flipping to the ground, but bot before he grabbed her ankles and brought her down with him.

"Thought you might like to join me. There IS quite a lovely view down here."

"Did you just say 'lovely'?"

They jumped to their feet again. Marcus made a grab at Coyote's. She parried his hands before grabbing his own shoulders, front flipped over him and kicked him square in the back. He attempted to roll away, but couldn't escape as she flipped yet again and landed on all fours right in front of him, scaring him slightly as she looked like a feral beast…not that she wasn't one already. Taking advantage of his moderate fright, she pounced on him and tried to force him up to her lips. Thankfully Marcus was still able to use his right foot to catapult her away from him, but as soon as he hopped to his feet, Coyote got violent.

"Just call me Chuck freakin' Norris!" she yelled before attempting a roundhouse kick to his head.

"In which case I am Staff Man!" Marcus cockily replied, whipping out his staff and blocking it.

"You're gonna use THAT on ME?"

"Perhaps. You never know what a cornered beast might do."

"Oh, sure. Way to rip dialogue off of Peppy."

"When did he say that?!"

"In _Assault_! That Gamecube game that got real mixed opinions!"  
"We weren't in _Assault_! We weren't even fertilized eggs then! Hell, the only canon appearance I have in the series is in one of _Command_'s endings! You're a fan character!"

Coyote stopped and felt at her temples.

"Sorry. Breaking the fourth wall really takes a lot out of me."

As you can see, the comedy was retained from the last story, but that doesn't mean it's going for the comedic route of the…

"Hey! Narrator guy!" Marcus yelled at…me? "Can we get back to the fight here?"

Alright, alright. Sheesh!

The two sidestepped around each other for a few moments before Marcus suddenly threw his staff at Coyote, who effortlessly ducked under it.

"Okay, seriously what was that?"

"A heads-up for your attention span."

"A heads-up for my…son of a bitch."

Acting like a boomerang, the staff came twirling back at her, hitting her square in the back and knocking her to the ground.

"Um…ow?"

Coyote got back up and rolled her eyes when she saw Marcus bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet with a cocky grin on his face.

"What's wrong? You givin' up already?" he mocked.

"Get that shit-eating grin of your face, hotshot! You know I ain't finished!" Coyote said fiercely before bounding at him with her fist raised.

Her fists came at him at a speed beyond a normal person's recognition, but being that Marcus was far from normal, he was quick to block all of them, sidestep around, and grab her from behind. Then sadly, she did it. The one thing that could have made the fight personal: she brought her heel right up into his pelvis, forcing his eyes to bug out, his chest to start heaving for breath, and his legs to crumple. Coyote bent over him with her hands on her hips in a ha-ha-I-Charlie-horsed-you kind of way.

"Did I overdo it? A little bit?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not available at the moment. Please leave a message after the WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT?!"

"Aww. I'm sorry. Here, let me make it all better."

She got on her knees gently pulled his head up onto her lap, leaning closer in for a kiss. Marcus managed to come to his senses at the last second, and very hesitantly head-butted her, getting to his feet as soon as she fell backward.

"Not bad, am I?" he chuckled.

Coyote smirked as she rubbed her smarting forehead as she stood up.

"Not bad at all, but there's a difference between not bad and good."

Before Marcus had any time to react, she dove at him, tackling him to the ground with Coyote again trying to force his head up. He quickly got a hold of her shoulders and pushed as hard as he could while she struggled to get her face down to his. After what seemed like two minutes of struggling, Marcus finally gained the upper hand and flipped Coyote onto her back, pinning her arms down with his hand and placing his knees on her thighs to ensure she couldn't get away.

They panted heavily for a brief moment before a smile stretched across both their faces.

"Sorry, kid. Maybe next time." Marcus replied before finishing the job with a kiss.

After a few moments, he drew back, got off of Coyote and helped her to her feet, keeping his arms around her shoulders.

"Do I ever win against you?" she sighed in a satisfied tone.

"Nope, but you haven't been pushed to your limit yet."

"I guess…do you think we'll always be like this…just trying to be better than the other even though we love each other so much?"

"Dunno. Maybe."

"Maybe? What do you mean maybe?"

"Err…I mean…dammit…"

Coyote giggled.

"You're so easy to trip sometimes that it's just downright hilarious."

"I guess that's just me."

"It's alright. I don't need telepathy to know what you meant."

They pulled together in a warm embrace. Just standing there and holding each other made them feel like they were separate from the rest of the world, thinking of it as a perfect moment that couldn't be spoiled by anything.

Unfortunately, they were wrong, because right at that moment, a small boy stepped up to them.

"Aw, gross! You're gonna get cooties, Mark!" he joked.

Coyote yelped out of surprise when she recognized the voice, and when she turned around, she spotted the familiar face a small wolf with the same fur color as her wearing a black sweater and a pair of jeans.

"Damn it, Scott! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"I'm telling Mom you swore again!"  
"Well, I'm telling Dad you stowed away again!"

Scott O'Donnell was Coyote's 3-year old brother, and like most Lylatian children his age, he had born with an odd growth hormone that caused him to think and act older than he really was, essentially meaning he was a 10-year old trapped in a 3-year old body. By "stowed away", she meant that he had hidden in the cargo hold of her ship and followed her once she had landed on Corneria.

Coyote groaned out of disgust.

"What are you doing here, anyhow?"  
"I wanted to hang out with you today."

Scott turned his attention to Marcus with a big smile.

"Hi, Mark!" he said happily dashing up to him.

"Hey, buddy!" Marcus replied, placing a hand on Scott's head. "Sheesh, you're gettin' tall, man!"

"Thanks! I guess being huge just runs in the family if you know what I mean."

"I. Will. Hit. You. Over. The. Head. Scott." Coyote seethed with a clenched fist when she saw what he was smirking at.

Marcus turned to the house and got a confused look on his face.

"Those guys have been in there for a pretty long time…you don't think they're…y'know."

"You kidding? Anne doesn't needs gonorrhoea to make Chase sick."

**Meanwhile…**

"Whew!" Chase breathed as he flushed the toilet. "That one stank up a barnstorm!"

Chase splashed some water on his face and flipped his fedora back on afterwards.

"Since when has Anna been enough to nearly make me lose control over my bowels?" he asked himself. "Maybe girls really do have an infectious disease."

As soon as he opened the door, who chance to be there but…

"Anne! Uhh…why did you follow me inside?"

"Did you really get the runs or were you just trying to get away from me?"

"Uhhh…."

"Damn it, Chase, I heard what you said in there! Don't play dumb with me!"

The moment Chase bit his lip, Anna sighed and sat down in the chair behind her.  
"Do you think I'm unattractive?"

Chase finally snapped out of his dazed and stupid state...but still dizzily and stupidly asked "Huh?"

"Do you hate me?"

"What makes you say that?"

"I've been trying to make a good impression on you for ages now and I don't think it's not working."

He was very tempted to cynically go "No shit", but he could see how out of it she was, and thus kept his mouth shut and let her go on.

"I can't even begin to describe exactly how I feel, but I've got no way to express it other than to tell you" Anna sighed, looking down at her feet in a way that almost seemed like shame. "…I really…really like you."

Chase was slightly unnerved. He had been aware that Anna had a crush on him, especially considering that Marcus was always pestering him about it, but actually hearing it straight from the bunny's mouth was a new thing for him.

He took a deep breath and sat down next to her, putting a comforting arm around her shoulder. She flinched at his touch and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Anne, it's okay." Chase said. "It's perfectly normal."

"This isn't some stupid school girl crush were talking about, or that fake teen shit where it's just to get something you have that I want. I'm talking about Adam and Eve! Romeo and Juliet! Bond and every girl that bites the dust in his movies, for Christ's sake!"

"…well, when you put it that way it's a little awkward, but I'm cool with…no, hold up. If I said that, then…"

"What?"  
"…if I said that, I'd be lying."

"So you're NOT cool with it?"

"Now hang on, I didn't say that."

"So you ARE cool with it?!"  
"I didn't say that, either!"  
"Then make up your fuckin' mind, man!"

"Alright, fine! I like you, too! I just can't keep my act together long enough to say it, and you were right! My big ego is no help at all! Are you happy now?!"

Anna smiled slightly and blushed.  
"What was that?"

"Uhh…are you happy now?"  
"Before that."

"My big ego is no help?"  
"Back up just a little more."

"Yeah, ha ha. Real funny."

Anna looked at the arm around her shoulders. Did Chase really have the same feelings for her that she had for him, or was he just trying to make her feel better?

"He's a sweetie either way." she thought.

"But although I'm uncomfortable with the thought of being in a relationship," Chase continued. "I'll try my best to make it worth your while."

"I'm sorry."

"For what? You didn't do anything."

"I came on a bit too strong. Should I let off the flirting a little?"

"THAT would be a big help."  
"Gotcha."

Suddenly, Chase had a strange urge kick in. The more he gazed t Anna's sweet brown eyes, the more infatuated he became.

"Say…you wanna redo?" he asked.

"Of what?"

"Christmas three years ago. I felt it was kind of…lacking."

Anna's smile slowly came back bigger than before.  
"Sure…but only if you really want to."

"I do…just pray I don't puke all over you."

"Promise you won't pass out like you did last time?"

Chase smirked and held up his one hand.

"Scout's honour."

Anna took his hands as soon as Chase took of his hat and set it aside. They leaned forward and the next thing Chase knew, his lips were pressed against hers. His forehead became positively drenched with sweat, and his heart started pounding like a hammer in his chest, almost feeling like it was going to pop out of it at any moment…which would be both disgusting and hazardous for him. But he didn't stop. Anna's touch was like a spell on him; he felt like she had suddenly seduced him into kissing her instead of him asking her to do it. Regardless, it felt good…almost a little too good if you know what I mean. (BONERIFIC!)

Once Chase was finally done letting Anna slobber all over him (…sorry), he pulled back and let go of her to take in a few well-needed gulps of breath.

"You okay?"

"Okay?! That was…awesome!"

Anna smirked and put her hands on her hips.  
"There ya go! Was that so hard?"

"And look at the lovebirds sing!" said a drawling high-pitched voice from the living room behind them.

Much to Chase's chagrin, it was his younger brother Tyler.

"Were you listening to us this whole time?!" the older Toad sputtered.

"Kinda hard not to when your screams of pleasure fill the entire house. I can go get Mom and Dad's old book on Kama Sutra if you want."

"Sick, dude!"

Anna's face adopted an extremely confused look.

"'The hell is Kama Sutra?"

Chase cleared his throat and whispered it into her ear, and right away she went from confused to horrified.

"SICK, DUDE!" she shrieked.

"Man, Coyote and Mark must be dying of boredom out there." Chase said as he and Anna headed for the door with the jeering Tyler still following them.

When he opened the door, however, it was pure pandemonium. Marcus and Coyote were chasing Scott up and down the yard, who quickly jumped onto a tree trunk and scrambled up into the branches before they even came close to reaching him.

"And thus the situation speaks for itself." Chase sighed.

Anna stepped under the tree and smiled up at Scott.

"What, you make your sister and her boyfriend run around after you and you don't have the courtesy to say hi to your cousin?" she joked.

Scott hung down from the branch with his legs right in front of Anna's face.

"Hi, Anne. Just, y'know, hangin' out." he replied with a smile before dropping down and hugging his cousin.

Chase picked up the basketball and twirled it on his finger.

"Now that my colon's emptied out, how about that game of two-on-two?" he asked.

"How about three-on-three?" Tyler added. "Me, you , and Anne versus Mark, Coyote, and Scott."

Right when Marcus was going to answer, the pager attached to his belt went off. He pulled it off and flicked the switch, making it levitate in front of him. Coming up from it was a holographic image of the Star Fox team's foreign expert, the Sharpclaw Damalgo.

"Hey, Al." Marcus said. "What's the problem?"

"We're getting an incoming distress call." Damalgo responded. "We're gonna need Anne to come down to the _Great Fox _and check it out…and you all know what that usually leads to."

"Do I ever. Mark out."

He turned off the pager, clipped it back onto his belt, and turned to his fellow teammates with a smirk.

"Mission time."

"Cool! Can we go?" asked Scott.

"Are you on crack or something?!" Coyote sputtered. "This isn't like a ride at an amusement park! This is literally flying through Outer Space after a terrorist of some sort and blasting his sorry butt into oblivion, or at the very least arresting him!"

"I fail to see your point." Tyler replied cynically.

"That's not the only thing you fail at." Chase childishly shot back.

"Relax, guys." Marcus said. "They'll be fine."

"Wha…you're not actually considering letting them come with us, are you?!" Anna near shouted. "I mean, this is our job. Y'know, the one full of action? Fighting? Death?!"

"Hey, I'm the leader, so what I say goes. Besides, it could be a real learning experience for both of them."

Coyote groaned out of disgust, under the realization that there really was no arguing with him. She couldn't tell if he was either really trying to be nice to the kids or was being incredibly stupid.

"Alright, fine." she finally said. "But if you make this more annoying than it has to be, I'm taking you straight home, ya got it?"

Tyler smirked and mocked a two-fingered salute.

"Aye-aye, 'captain'."

**10 minutes later…**

The six ran inside the Grand Cornerian Airway and stood under the massive _Great Fox Mark III_, but not before Scott got his chance to marvel at its size for the first time.

"Geez, the thing must be a mile long!" he said, listening to his voice echo throughout the large room.

"He's three. Part of being young is being naïve." Coyote said when Marcus smirked at the young O'Donnell.

Marcus spoke into the communicator on his wrist to the ship's automated pilot, R.O.B. 128.

"ROB, beam us up."

"Fuck you, asshole!"

"…uhhh, what?"

"Affirmative."

They were beamed inside, all with confused looks.

"The glitches are getting worse, Chase." Marcus stated. "I mean, first he was refusing commands. Then he was firing at thin air, and now he's quoting _The Terminator_! What's wrong with him?!"

"I guess that technology I used wasn't exactly up-to-date." Chase sighed. "Just don't turn it into a complaint that anyone who uses something that isn't completely advanced and gimmick-free is a Nintendrone, 'cause honestly, no one ever wants to hear that word again."

The team stepped to the bridge of the ship where Peter, Damalgo, and ROB were waiting for them.

"Err…what's with the kids, mates?" Peter asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't bother." Coyote remarked. "It's too worthless to explain."

"The portal will open in 3…2…" ROB blared before Chase smacked him over the head. "BZZT roger, roger!"

"May as well screw the whole head off and leave the piloting to me." Damalgo said with crossed arms. "He ain't gonna be useful for quite a while."

"I think we can put our differences behind us…for science…you monster."

"Anyway," Marcus carried on, trying with some difficulty to ignore ROB quoting a computer that was equally unstable as him. "What seems to be the problem?"

"We managed to intercept a radio transmission coming from quite a distance away." Damalgo stated. "From what we could pick up, it seems to be the Cornerian Army on the other end, more specifically the Retriever unit. We managed to record some of it, but the signal's kind of…I don't wanna cuss in front of the kids so we'll just say it's not the best."

He flipped on the recording, and right away they could hear loud and muffled voices.

"Red Two and Five, flank the right!" someone shouted. "We can't let a single one get through!"

"Sweet Jesus in the Great Beyond, what are these things?!" another voice said in a panicked.

"Red Two, look out! There's one behind you!"

"Dammit! I'm hit!"

"Oh my God, what hell is…"

The recording cut off there.

"Well, that didn't sound too pleasant." Marcus said. "Any idea where I came from?"

Peter shrugged.

"Don't look at me, mac. It ain't my job."

Anna rolled her eyes, walked over to the recorder and fiddled with a few switches before the coordinates appeared on the screen.

"Sector Y Combat Zone, southeast border."

"Places, everybody!" Marcus ordered. "Set a course for that location, ROB."

"You are terminated!"

"…on second thought, we'll let Al take this one."

The team jumped into their respective seats, while ROB stood being completely useless and malfunctioning his circuits out and Damalgo took up the navigation system. The two empty chairs were occupied by Scott and Tyler respectively.

Marcus looked at where the boys sat with a slightly saddened look. Not a few months ago, that had been were Falco and Katt would have been sitting. Marcus knew why the two weren't there, and it was a very good reason, but he still kind of missed their wise-cracking antics and the overall sense of fun they brought to the battlefield.

Nevertheless, Marcus shook out the melancholy thoughts and focused on the task at hand as the _Great Fox _slowly began rising up out of the airway and pointing toward the sky.

"Fasten your seatbelts, folks!" Damalgo said. "Lightspeed's goin' up in three…two…one!"

The mothership shot up into the atmosphere and a near incomprehensible speed and punched a hole in hyperspace, vanishing inside before anybody could see what had happened.

_Sweet Jesus did this take longer than was necessary. I apologize for taking like three weeks to update the story and all I have is one chapter that dones't take itself seriously. But then again, considering I start school again in two days, I can't really blame everything on me._

_Also, props to the guy who said that SFNG was 20th Century Fox material. I really appreciate whenever people react positively to anything I've written, let alone fanfiction. Anyway, I'll try my hardest to get some more work done on the story but don't expect anything from me too soon. From what I'm thinking, senior year is gonna be a bigger bitch than I'm making Kursed out to be!_


	4. 3: A New Enemy

CHAPTER THREE

**A New Enemy**

**Sector Y Combat Zone**

Hundreds upon hundreds of Cornerian military ships raced through the cold and airless space, firing at the strange and twisted-looking ships that had suddenly appeared on their weekly scouting of Sector Y. None of them had ever seen anything like these ships…in fact, they could barely call them ships, because they could see what appeared to be glowing red eyes and a cavernous mouth filled with razor sharp teeth on each one. They were pulsing, shady, humanoid, and they were all over the radar!

"Commander, there's no end in sight!" a soldier shouted into his comm. "We should retreat!"

"Don't you dare start acting like a coward now, you fool!" the commander yelled back. "All ships stand fast and attack whenever you have the chance!"

What chance that would be was something they were all thinking. Whatever these things were, they were far too fast to lock on to, let alone just rapidly fire at. Every chance the bugs got, they grabbed onto the back of a ship and started chewing away at its exterior, trying to get to the soldier inside and forcing them to barrel roll to narrowly escape being devoured.

Then came even more trouble: what seemed like a huge starship (though it also had a cavernous mouth lined with teeth) slowly and menacingly came through some warped and twisted hole in space.

"Good God, what in the name all that is holy is THAT?!" one of the soldiers said in panic.

The ship suddenly fired a gigantic laser from its mouth, and down went everything that was in the way.

"Damn it! This ain't good!"

"Ahh! We're all gonna die!"

Then one of the soldiers checked his radar. Five dots were quickly approaching them from behind.

"Commander, we've got five unidentified aircrafts coming from the south."

"Bogies?"

"Unconfirmed, sir."

Commander Dane stepped to his communicator and spoke through it.

"Unidentified aircrafts, this is Commander Dane of the Cornerian Army's Retriever unit. You are in a hostile warzone. Walk identification, and proceed back the way you came."

The response wasn't what he was expecting, but it was certainly what he had been praying to happen for a good while.

"Hey, is that anyway to talk to your reinforcements?" Marcus said with a smirk.

"Thank the stars!" the flagship's pilot said.

The team jettisoned into the combat zone and flew alongside the Cornerian flagship for a moment.

"Looks like we're not too late, then!" Commander Dane said. "We've got no idea who or what these things are, but they're tearing us apart out here."

"Not to worry, sir." Marcus replied. "We'll try to help as best we can."

"Good. First thing you can do is head after the enemy flagship. And hurry! It's getting ready to retreat!"

Marcus nodded and pushed the steering control forward.

"All ships, avoid the armada's fire! Let's head after that flagship!"

"Let's keep it real and send these freaks straight to the freakin' morgue!" Tyler whooped from the back of Chase's Arwing."

"Don't start getting cocky, little bro." Chase responded. "This isn't as easy as it looks."

"That's one way of putting it considering you've already got one of them on your tail!" Coyote yelled.

Chase looked behind him, and Coyote hadn't been lying. One of the hideous creatures was chasing after him, snapping its jaws as soon as one the wings came close to its mouth.

"What are you waiting for?!" Tyler yelled. "Do a loop!"

"Hey, no backseat driving!" Chase replied, though he performed the loop and fired on the creature just the same.

Coyote swiftly piloted her ship under, over, and between a number of the creatures, barrel-rolling if they came to close and locking onto one that was about to start attacking of the military ships again.

"Bad doggy! Drop the ship! It's not a chew toy, and this is coming from someone who actually is a dog!" she said before blasting the creature into oblivion. "Scott, you're not bothering Al up there, are you?"

"You kiddin'?" Damalgo asked. "This kid's a blast! He already knows how to pilot us around!"

"Wait a minute…you're letting my three-year old brother pilot the _Great Fox_?! Are you mental?!"

"What's wrong?" Scott asked. "This is easy! Watch! Starboard cannon lock on and fire!"

The cannon on one of the _Great Fox_'s wings fired, downing several of the enemy ships in one clean go. The team could do nothing but look at the destruction in wonder.

"Yeah. Great design, Chase." Peter scoffed. "The thing's so simple that a three-year old kid can drive it."  
"That's a good thing…right?"

"No. That means that now we look like old farts compared to him by making it out to look hard when it really isn't!"

"Actually I taught him everything that's to know about this thing." said Damalgo. "The ship's not simple. The kid's just a fast learner."

"Could have said that earlier…"

"Heads up, everybody!" Anna hollered. "That thing's dropping anchor again!"

The team swerved out of the way as another gigantic beam came firing at them. The flagship was still quite a ways away and was proceeding quickly out of the area.

"Come on, guys, pick it up!" Damalgo said sternly. "That thing ain't gonna down itself!"

"Yeah, we wish." Marcus mumbled.

The team slammed down on their boost pedals, making sure to swerve out of the way of any projectiles and fire back upon the attackers, barrel-rolling whenever one of the projectiles got too close. Chase took the time to utilize the camera mounted on top of his ship to take a snapshot of one of the ships when it got close enough. It popped up on the screen, and he was a little unnerved by what he saw.

"Damn, he ugly!" he muttered. "But…wait a second, this thing doesn't look like any ship I've ever seen."

"Gee, ya think?" Coyote shot back. "That would be why they've got mouths!"

"Hey, come on. That ship General Scales had in _Adventures _was entirely mechanical and it had a…"

"No! Stop! No breaking the fourth wall with me around! We weren't born then so we have no idea what we're talking about, got it?"  
"Alright, alright. Jesus…"

"Anne! You've got some of those blokes on your six!" Peter yelled.

"Y'know that's something that's always bugged me." Anna started. "Why do you guys just tell me that there's goons behind me instead of doing something about it?!"

"Because that would defy all logic of the entire _Star Fox _series."

"Hey, what did I just say about breaking the fourth wall?!" Coyote growled.

Chase switched on his Multi-Lock and fired away, downing the two creatures chasing after Anna.

"…I would make some witty comment, but SOMEBODY is gonna find a way to contradict it." he said.

"Why, yes, I would!" Tyler mocked. "Thank you for your acknowledgement."

Chase barrel-rolled the ship and nearly knocked poor Tyler's brains out.

"You were saying?" he smirked.

"…carry on…good Lord."

The flagship fired another beam, this time right at the _Great Fox. _  
"Activate blast shield!" Scott demanded.

A transparent aura generated around the ship, shielding it from the blast but still jostling it…and forcing ROB to let out an R2-D2 style shriek.

"Watch your feet, kid!" Damalgo exclaimed, catching Scott as he stumbled to the ground. "This thing ain't 100% stable out here in space.

Then ROB spoke up and slightly unnerved the young O'Donnell.

"Any contact with the chamber floor will result in an unsatisfactory mark on your official testing record…followed by death."

"Switch off, ROB."

"Hey, laser lips! Ya mama was a snow blower! PFFFFFFT!"

"My mom was an anthropomorphic dinosaur, and I have incredibly sharp teeth, not lasers. Switch off."  
"I'll be back."

"Not looking forward to it."

"Commander, they've sent that satellite right towards us!" one of the men of the Army's flagship barked in a worried tone.

"Are you one of the gunners?"

"Uh…yes, sir."

"Then you shouldn't be looking at me!"

The Army's flagship fired on the satellite that had been sent hurtling towards them, but to no avail. The lasers just deflected off of the frame.

"What the…try the second artillery!"

Out came the ship's bombs, which exploded but did no damage.

"Shit. Swerve us around it!"

"There isn't enough time, sir! We're not gonna be able to…"

"Commander." Marcus said. "Let me handle this."

Marcus released the steering console and closed his eyes, sitting up in his seat in a Buddhist-like way with his hands out in front of him.

"Reach out with your mind." he said to himself in a monotone voice. "Picture your goal and grasp it…NOW!"

He snapped his eyes open and shoved his hands forward. The satellite immediately screeched to a halt just in front of the Army's flagship. Marcus furrowed his brow and clenched his teeth before slowly and steadily smashing his hands together. Right before everyone's eyes, the satellite collapsed in on itself, and once that was finished with it, Marcus let out a loud cry before throwing it back at the enemy flagship. The ship itself simply blasted another beam to completely obliterate the satellite, but the Army was nonetheless relieved.

"That's gotta be the most epic thing I've ever seen in my life." one of the soldiers commented.

"Thank you, folks. I'm in Lylat all week…actually the rest of my life, but you get the idea." Marcus said smugly.

"Got somethin' on radar, guys." Anna said in alert. "It's dead ahead and…Mark, there's something on you!"

Marcus was about to barrel-roll and shake it off, but then he got a strange cold feeling…a feeling that felt dreadfully familiar. And then Peter had to go and say…

"It looks like…a woman!"

Nervously and slowly, Marcus looked up through his windshield. Squatting there on the top of his ship and looking down with an evil grin was someone he had hoped he'd never see again but knew it was inevitable.

"And how are we this afternoon?" Kursed asked before vanishing into thin air.

"Hey, where'd it go?!" Chase demanded. "I was about to blast it off of you, too."

Marcus lowered his gaze again and gritted his teeth.

"That would've probably been the worst thing you could do, buddy."

"Huh?"

Marcus looked over at the _Iron Maiden_. Coyote was looking at him with a look of distress. She knew exactly what he had meant, and she was wise enough to stay quiet about the issue.

He had known that this was going to happen. He knew that the Seal of Spirits wouldn't hold Kursed back forever. He knew that she was a lot smarter and stronger than he thought. So why did he feel so bewildered by seeing her for the first time in three years? All of a sudden, all the spiritual training he went through meant absolutely nothing and made him feel like he was going soil his pants any second.

But he still had a dogfight to worry about, so he shook the bad thoughts out. That was the problem that he had back when Kursed's attacks were a bit more common: every time it happened, he was in a bad mood for the rest of the day until he got home to see his mother. That may sound weird, but considering Krystal was Kursed's clone and she was the polar opposite in terms of nature, it actually made some sense.

"We're entering the defense area, everybody!" Coyote said. "Get your hardcore dodging skills ready!"

"We'll follow you guys in!" one of the younger female soldiers said. "Don't you worry about a thing!"

Peter's thoughts on the situation flew out when he heard that particular voice. It gave him a moderate feeling of nostalgia for a second before he realized just who this woman was.

"Susan Keller?!" he asked in surprise.

The soldier sat confused for a moment as to how this man knew her name, but then she processed Peter's voice and came up with the answer.

"Peter Dengar?!"

"Hold up. You two know each other?" Anna asked.

"Of course! Susan's the girl I rescued from those snot-nosed little punks a few years back!" Peter replied enthusiastically.

Go back and read Next Gen, Chapter 23 if you're asking yourself "What the fuck is he talking about?!"

"God, it's so great to see you again!" Susan chirped. "Hey, you wanna go get something to eat after this so we can catch up on old times?"  
"Sounds great, mate!" Peter beamed. "Man, you must be one hell of a pilot to get in the Army at only twenty."

"Yes, that would be later, but this is now, and now we're trying to blow up a friggin' flagship. Or have you already forgotten." Anna barked

"Alright, alright, kill the moment, sheesh…"

The team and Army swerved around the various constructions of the defense area. The strange creatures still had no intentions of letting them get away, but perhaps hostility came at the cost of no common sense or good reflexes since getting them to chase daredevil girls Coyote and Anna and crash headlong into the structures was easier than it looked.

"There's a reason your mom and dad taught you to look both ways before crossing the street!" Chase laughed back at them.

"They don't have a mom or a dad, smart guy." Coyote smirked.

"And that's the reason I'd prefer not to crack jokes with you around. You're always sure to ruin it."

"I oughta be gettin' paid for it at this rate."

"Looks like we're closing in on this son of a gun. Get ready, folks!" Marcus ordered.

The flagship slowed to a stop, now having simple no place to flee anymore since the ships had chased it through a tunnel and into an odd ring shaped chamber. There was no way out than the way it had already come, and it slowly turned around to face its attackers.

"All ships prepare to fire on my mark!" Commander Dane instructed.

Off went a tingling sensation in the back of Marcus' head and he looked up suddenly with a look of alert.

"Hold that order, sir! That ship's up to something!"

The mouth on the ship let out a loud roar before its hull seemed to steadily shift around. The rocket thrusters at the back gradually moved around to the bottom, and the bottom seemed to morph itself into two long structures with joints on proper places. The area where the mouth was shifted upward and extended on a metallic stalk of sorts, and out of the sides came two structures that looked unmistakably like a pair of arms. As if that wasn't enough, several cannons sprouted on its shoulder, and one of its hands had a huge blade on the end.

"Oh, fuck my uncle…" Marcus said in nervous awe. "...heh. I'm just kiddin'. I don't have an uncle."

"Well, we've gotta give the terrorist leader credit for that at least." Tyler remarked.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Simple: it's a giant mech! Giant mechs are freakin' awesome!"

The "freakin' awesome" mech as Tyler quoted punched at the first ship that made the stupid decision of coming too close, and that unfortunately had been Coyote.

"Not so awesome now that it's nearly punched a hole in my ship, is it?"

"Nope. It's even more awesome!" Tyler laughed.

"Yeah, well screw you, too!"

The mech roared and aimed the cannon on its arm, firing out a long beam of energy that scraped against the wall, leaving a huge singe. Any of the pilots that had been close enough felt the intense heat radiating off of it before dive-bombing at the mech and searching for a possible weak point.

"Enemy shield analyzed. Coming up on your screens now." Chase said after hitting the last few buttons.

"Delete data." Tyler said.

The enemy's shield gauge vanished from everyone's screens the moment Tyler had spoken.

"Very funny, little bro." Chase sighed. "Recalculate shield gauge."

"Delete data."

"Shut up! Recalcu…"

"Delete data."

Chase halted his Arwing suddenly, forcing Tyler's head to shoot forward and slam into the back of the seat. As if that wasn't enough, Chase whipped out a roll of masking tape that he for some reason had lying on his ship's floor, then took of one of his socks. Finally, he stuffed the sock into Tyler's mouth and wrapped as much tape around the young Toad's head as he could. Tyler furrowed his brow and angrily bucked around in the seat, but to no avail.

"And that takes care of that. Recalculate shield gauge."

The shield gauge finally reappeared on everyone's screens.

"Anne, what have you got for us?" Marcus demanded.

"Can't seem to find any kind of weak spot." Anna replied. "Someone'll have to act as bait so I can wheel around him and look for one."

"Already on it. Pete! Let's head on in!"

"Right behind you, mate!" Peter replied.

The _Arwing III _and the _Outbacker _dove in towards the mech, which used it shoulder cannons as an attempt to blast its attackers away. The two of them swerved back and forth, avoiding and deflecting the projectiles with barrel-rolls, loops, turning their ships on their sides, or firing their own shots. Anna meanwhile flew all around it, trying to find any sort of spot that could be a weak point. Susan seemed to want to be of some help, as she was swerving around the mech as well. Thankfully, she spotted a strange opening on one of the shoulders, but right as she saw it, several of the strange creatures from before began jetting out of it.

"Guys!" she yelled. "I think I've find the weak point…downside is that weak spot's puking out bogies!"

"Yep, there's one on this side, too!" Anna put in. "The sooner we get rid of these openings, the better!"

"Gotcha!" Marcus said. "Alright, team. Chase, Anne, and Pete, you flank right. Coyote and I'll flank left!"

"Reds Five, Three and One follow Marcus!" Commander Dane ordered. "Reds Two, Four, and Six follow Anna!"

"Yes, sir!" said Susan before breaking off to follow Peter.

The first wave of bogies coming from the left headed straight for Marcus, who simply charged up a blast and launched it at them full speed. As soon as few of them got too close, he swerved away and looped to get them in front of him before blasting them to Kingdom Come with a smart bomb before barrel-rolling to send another one careening into a wall.

"And that's why personal space is best left without any violation."

"We've got bogies attacking the _Great Fox_!" Damalgo hollered. "We can't get them off us!"

"Activate repulsing shield! Fifty meter range!" Scott ordered.

Out came a large pulse of energy from the _Great Fox_'s hull, completely annihilating any of the bogies that had landed on it or had been quickly approaching it. This amazed everyone even further that he even knew the _Great Fox _had that kind of function.

"Don't start questioning me about it!" Scott yelled. "You've still got that huge monster to worry about!"

"Kid ain't kiddin' when he's saying that thing's a monster. Look at the chompers on him!" Chase remarked.

"Let's not worry about how impressive or intimidating the thing looks and just kill it before this whole situation gets out of control!" Anna responded.

Shooting off to the right, Chase managed to get a clear line of fire into the opening on the shoulder, but then Tyler started speaking in muffled screams.

"Tmms gmms bmmhmm us!"

"What's that? Can't hear you over the sound of sweet revenge."

Tyler furrowed his brow in an irritated way before grabbing the tape with his hands and tearing off before spitting the sock out of his mouth.

"EEEEE-YOW!...I said there's some goons behind us, you retard!"

"Oh…why didn't you say so?!"

"…I hate you. I really do."

Anna immediately dove in with her Multi-Lock and blasted the four creatures behind Chase into oblivion.

"You could say I'm one of those friends with benefits." she smirked.

"I guess I can always count on you, huh?"

"Never mind that! Finish this sucker off!"

Chase slammed the button over his head, and with a loud "It's away!", a smart bomb came surging out of the _Slip Strap_'s cannon and down the opening until it exploded within. The mech let out a loud roar of seemingly pain, and the bombed arm fell off of it, floating aimlessly in the anti-gravitated air. It looked at its attackers angrily and swung at them with the energy blade on its remaining arm, firing small missiles at them to boot.

"Oh, sure. As if the projectiles worked the first time!" Peter mocked.

"One of 'em is working now, I'm afraid!" Susan yelled. "Gimme some help over here!"

"Me and my big mouth, eh?"

As Peter shot away to help Susan, Marcus and Coyote shot towards the second opening on the other arm. The mech fired its remaining shoulder cannons at the two, trying its hardest to keep them from damaging it further, and that only made them more frustrated with it.

"I'm starting to think this guy's bark is a lot worse than his bite." Marcus growled.

"No kiddin'. Makes me wish this was a crossover with _Transformers _so Optimus Prime could run in and tear this thing limb from…God damn it, now I'M doing it!"

"Ain't that a bitch."

The two swerved off in different directions to dodge any of the oncoming missiles before they both launched a smart bomb into the opening. Off came the other arm and out came another roar before the now armless mech turned toward its attackers as a buildup of energy occurred in its maw.

"INCOMING!" Marcus hollered before jerking the steering console to the right.

Out came another massive beam singeing the wall, and unfortunately slicing off one of Susan's wings when she got too close.

"Son of a bitch!" she growled. "Who does this guy think he is, slicing off an innocent lady's wing off like that? I'll tell you what it makes him: one rude shithead!"

"Easy, lady!" Chase replied. "We've got kids around here, y'know?"

Peter quickly swerved up in front of her and opened up his cargo hold. Out dropped a wing repair droid that immediately latched onto Susan's ship and began its work. Within moments, a new wing had been generated.

"And that takes care of that." Peter said smugly.

"Phew. Thanks, Pete. Now you and I should DEFINITELY go out for a drink sometime."

"Why, Miss Keller, I do believe you're trying to seduce me."

"Pay attention, Keller!" Commander Dane barked. "That robot isn't going to destroy itself!"

"Yes, sir! Sorry, sir!"

"Anne, you got another weak point for us?" Marcus asked.

"Let's see…wait…you see that glowing spot underneath his chest plates?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Get those plates off and fire at will! And do it quick! I'm detecting a lot of internal energy buildup!"

"Gotcha. Chase! Coyote! Follow me!"

The three swerved back towards the mech, dodging what little remained of the creatures.

"Let's head to Mach 4 speed in three…two…one!"

They each flipped a switch on their dashboards, causing their ships to rocket forward faster than the eye could see. In one swift motion, the plates on the mech's chest were sent spiralling away. The mech made one growl as all of the ships swerved in front of it, opening its mouth frighteningly wide and showing off a noticeable ray of energy.

"He's getting ready to drop a huge anchor on us!" Marcus yelled. "Commander?"  
"Not much else to do, Marcus. All ships, focus all your power to your main guns."

Everyone flicked a few switches in their ships, and once someone yelled "Guns are set!" and the mech was about to rain hell on them…

"FIRE!"

Out came hundreds upon hundreds of charged shots surging into the mech's chest, sending it hurtling into the wall with a loud roar. As soon as it struck the hard metal, everything else attached to it fell away before letting off a loud explosion.

"Hell yeah!" one of the younger soldiers cheered.

"And that's what ya get for touchin' that!" Coyote mocked.

Marcus smiled at all the cheering going on. Even Commander Dane gave a satisfied smile, but something glowing in the floating wreckage caught Marcus' eye. He wasn't sure what it was, but he nevertheless piloted his ship towards it, severely confusing the rest of the team.

Once he had gotten close enough, Marcus could see that it was a glowing orb of…something. He had no idea what this thing was, but he noticed a cold feeling sweep over him as he had come close. That could only mean one thing, and that confirmed it as he opened his cargo hold and stowed the orb inside.

"It's time now, Marcus." Kursed mocked. "Time to let the party begin."

Marcus sighed and ran his fingers through the fur on his head.

"I know." he said aloud.

"You know what?" asked Chase.

"You don't wanna know."

"What if we DO wanna know?" asked Anna.

"You don't."

"…,yeah, but what if we do?" asked Peter.

"You don't. End of story."

"But what if we…" Coyote started.

"Done! It's over! End the damn chapter, narrator guy!"

_And here we have it. The first mission of a new story. Sorry it took so long, but like I've said before, building a story from the ground up instead of having it ready to go isn't an easy roadblock to overcome, but whatever. I got it done._

_I recently decided that I'd supply you guys with a soundtrack that you could listen to if you decide to reread some of the story. If you'd like to input your own songs into some particular moments, that's cool, but here's what I think should be in there so far. I'll be updating the soundtrack as more of these music moments present themselves, so be sure to take a look every once in a while. And with that, I'm out._

**_SOUNDTRACK SO FAR_**

_Krystal's nightmare - _"Parabola" by Mer (original song by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly) _- "Name of the Game" by The Crystal Method

..._and that's it. Not much to work with for now._


	5. 4: Some Answers and More Questions

CHAPTER FOUR

**Some Answers and More Questions**

**February 18****th****, 2057**

**McClouds' House**

BBRRRRIIING!  
"DON'T EAT MY FACE, SLENDERMAN! I DON'T HAVE TWENTY BUCKS!"

Marcus shot up of bed in shock thinking that his dream was about to turn into a nightmare, but felt incredibly stupid for overreacting after realizing he had foolishly left his pager right next to his head when he had gone to sleep the previous night.

"Oh, for cryin' out loud. I've told myself a thousand times not do this and I've even had Mom and Dad remind me, yet somehow I still do it!"

He grumbled and pressed a button on it. It levitated in front of him and up popped a hologram of Chase's head.

"Dude, I was sleeping." Marcus mumbled groggily.

"Number one: since when did you start sleeping without a shirt on?"

"What? It was really hot last night!"

"And how did you ever manage to get abs like that?"

"Simple: workout. Go for a jog every morning when you're not feeling too lazy. Eat your green vegetables. What do you want?"

"We need you to come down to the Shack for a minute. I think we might have figured something out about that orb we got from the mech a few days ago."

Chase had taken it from Marcus the second they had landed back on Corneria that day and took it to the Shack (the team's private hangout) for further investigation. Marcus had nearly completely forgotten about it and the telepathic message from Kursed until Chase brought the dreaded feelings of anger and lousiness back to haunt him.

"Alright, I'll be there in a minute."

"Might wanna make it quick. Anna's ragequiting over _Slender_ again."

Marcus shuddered.

"Goddamn, I hate that game."

**Soon enough…**

"Kinda hard to really take this game seriously when you have it set to $20 Mode." Coyote remarked on Anna's current state. "I mean, really. How scary can a super-tall guy in a suit coming towards you and going 'Gimme twenty dollas, gimme twenty dollas, gimme twenty dollas, no wifin' in the club!' possibly be?"

"Scary enough when he suddenly pops out at AAAAAAGH!"

Up came the static on the screen, automatically zooming into Slenderman's face before the game closed itself.

"That's it! Screw this game!" Anna seethed. "I swear to God, if Slenderman is real and he comes to haunt me, I'm gonna grab him by his scrawny little neck and…"

"Oooookaaay, that's enough of that for now." Coyote said nervously, shutting the laptop. "Hey, Al. How's _Duke Nukem Forever _treating you?"

"Well, I can definitely see why they would port this game, but I'm surprised Nintendo let it on their system." Damalgo commented, right as he walked into…THAT level. "Oh Lord, ARE THOSE WALL BOOBS?!"

"Dude, that is just sick. Who made that freakin' game, anyway?!" said Chase from across the room.

"Some guys called Gearbox Software…good God, that's just OH MY GOD THOSE GIRLS ARE GETTING…"

Marcus' finger landed on the power switch of the Wii U right as Damalgo saw something even nastier than the wall boobs if that was possible.

"So we're done with that one, too. What've you got for us, Chase…hey, wait a second, where's Pete?"

"You know where he is."

Marcus took a moment to process those words before he smirked when it hit him.

"Susan?"

"Who else?"

"Guess we can do this without him. So what have you got?"

"I'm getting something. Not quite sure what it is yet, but for now I guess you guys can just play some games or whatever."

"Huh…alright, then. Who's up for a few rounds on _Ultra Punch-Out_?"

Coyote plopped herself down next to him and picked up a controller right as the game booted up. With a quick selection of Aran Ryan for Marcus and Piston Hondo for Coyote, they were off throwing ridiculous and often hilarious attacks at each other.

"Yur gonna love this one, mac!" Marcus laughed right as he pulled off Aran Ryan's headbutt attack and smacked Piston Hondo right in the face.

"Oh, really?" Coyote said mischievously. "….I can't speak Japanese, so here comes the Hondo Rush!"

Out came a flurry of punches, a raised eyebrow, and a quick uppercut. Across the room, Anna was now playing a different game altogether: _Amnesia._

"Okay, just walking along, trying to find my way around and OH GOD!" she shrieked when the monster appeared and began chasing her. "You're…so sexy! So sexy, but I gotta go! Can't handle your sexiness, bro! Though I have to admit that Slenderman was sexier because he was wearing a suit, and anyone who wears a suit is a gentleman…or a complete schmuck, whatever you like…wait, what are these? …okay, they're just BARRELS!"

"Hey, Mark?" Coyote spoke up

"What now, Hondo?! What now?!" Marcus said as Aran Ryan whipped out his boxing glove whip and managed to smack Piston Hondo around a few times with it.

"Mark."

"Ye've prob'ly got cheeseburgers in those gloves, have ya, Hondo?!"

"Mark!"

"Me sister hits harder than ya, Hondo…and I haven't got a sister!"

"Marcus James McCloud, I am trying to communicate with you!"

"Yep?"

Coyote rolled her eyes before pausing the game and looking him dead in the eye.

"Do you think maybe we could go on another date soon?"

"Sure thing. When should we have it this time?"

"No, no, I meant do you think we could have that date on my planet we've been talking about."

If you haven't been keeping up with the story from the last one, Coyote was born, raised, and still lived on the planet Fortuna. It wasn't too far from Corneria and was a very lovely planet without many settlements. They had been talking about exploring the planet together for a while now when usually their dates were just them going to a movie or a nice dinner. While that might not have sounded very breathtaking, they still enjoyed. This, however, was going to be THAT date. The one that couples remember for years to come as possibly the one where the question gets popped…but they were only nineteen. They were in no rush to get that done. Hey, Bella! Ya listenin'? You'd best be takin' notes, woman!

"Sure. Can't believe we actually held off on it for this long to be honest."

"You're the one who always dismisses it. I'm beginning to think you're just a little scared of being around my family."

"What's that supposed to mean? Scott's a lot of fun, your mother's like a saint, and your father…well, he's a little scary, but he's still a good man at heart."

"So it's on, then?"

"Like Donkey Kong…but let's finish this up first."

Aran Ryan and Piston Hondo continued to duke it out on the screen before the latter reared back and slammed him with one more uppercut, followed up by…

…the power going out.

"Hey, someone turn on the lights! I can't see shit!" Damalgo cried.

"Wait, I think I've got something here." Coyote said. "Just let me…"

"YEOW! Watch out! That's my tail!" Marcus yelped.

"EEEK!" Anna shrieked. "Something's got me!"

"That was me, I'm sorry!" Chase said quickly.

Marcus stumbled around in the darkness for a moment before finding his way over to the circuit breaker and flicking the switch.  
"There we go, problem solved…WHAT IS THAT?!"

Standing behind them was one of the creatures they had seen alongside the mech a few days earlier, albeit much smaller. Its reduced size didn't make it any less of a threat, and it lunged at Marcus as soon as it saw him. Marcus himself was quick to flip over its head and draw his staff. Damalgo had been the only other person smart enough to bring a weapon, dragging a shotgun out from underneath one of the tables and pointing it at the creature.

"Chase, what did you do?!" Anna hollered.

"I don't know!" Chase yelled back. "I pushed a few buttons and the orb just sparked!"

The creature roared at Marcus again.

"'RAAAAARGH' yourself!" the young McCloud shot back before stabbing at the creature with his staff.

The creature blocked it with a blade that suddenly sprouted from its wrist. Just as it was about to bring a second blade down, Coyote jumped onto its head and clenched its neck with her thighs, squeezing as hard as she could in the hopes that she could perhaps snap its neck or strangle it. The creature was about to reach up and throw her off when Marcus kicked it to the ground, culminating with Damalgo shooting it in the head from a point blank range.

The creature let out one final roar as its head literally burst in pieces, scattering all over the place before the every little bit of its body somehow faded away.

"What the hell was that thing?!" Anna panted.

"Well, that just about confirms the theory I had." Chase said conclusively.

"Theory?"

"If my hunch is correct, this orb is some sort of mystical teleportation device. The readings that I got indicated that after I somehow activated it, the orb pulled the creature from…somewhere and put it here. Another guess here, but that might have been the reason that it was in the mech. It needs a powerful being nearby to be able to summon these creatures, though in my case I just hacked through it."

"…and who put it in the mech?" Coyote asked.

Chase was about to answer, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he had almost no clue. Unfortunately, Marcus and Coyote did, yet they couldn't work up the nerve to say it.

"Whatever the case," Chase continued. "I ran a scan on the ones we saw before, and I've confirmed that these things are indeed living organisms, but they're of an unidentified species, and none of that explain why that one just faded away after Al blasted its friggin' head off, or why the power went out when I activated it."

"What I wanna know is who would do something like this. Whoever did it can't be much worse than Andross, can they?" Damalgo replied.

"If only he knew…" Marcus thought, raising his hand to run his fingers through his fur again.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's goin' on?!" Anna sputtered.

The orb had suddenly started to glow the moment Marcus' hand came near it. Out of curiosity, he moved his hand away. The glowing stopped. He moved his hand back towards it. The glowing started again. Now he stepped towards it until he was directly in front of it. The orb began glowing so brightly that it forced everyone to shield their eyes.

At last, in a last ditch effort to see just what was going on, Marcus reached out his hand and touched the orb. All of a sudden, his vision was blurred out and he was looking through someone else's eyes. This person was looking in seemingly fear at who else but Kursed, the latter of whom was sickly lying on top of the former with an almost sweet smile.

"**How ironic…you're brought down by exactly what you wanted from her…a loving kiss."**

Then the person spoke, horribly surprising Marcus when he realized that it was his own voice.

"**No…no, don't! Stop!"**

"**Too late…twenty years too late."**

Kursed slowly opened her mouth and leaned down towards him…Marcus wanted to scream…he started thrashing about in her grasp, slowly finding it harder and harder to breathe…

"MARK! WAKE UP!"

Marcus' eyes snapped open and he realized that he was lying on the floor with the other four team members huddled around him.

"Wha…what happened?"

"You passed out as soon as you touched the orb and then you started having a seizure or something!" Damalgo replied in distress. "We thought you were fuckin' dying, man!"

"Not only that, but it looked like the orb got sucked right into your hand!" Coyote said, holding his head up on her lap.

"I…I saw something…I saw…"

Marcus sat up and slammed his fist on the ground.

"Chase, tell me what you know about a woman named Kursed."

"Uh…Kursed?"

"Do you know anything about her at all?"

"…gimme a sec."

Chase opened up his laptop and typed the name into the military files. Sure enough, up came what seemed to a criminal record.

"Had to really scrounge around to find this one. Seems the military had it deleted." he remarked. "It says here that this chick is a bounty hunter turned terrorist, and that she's been missing for over twenty years. Average height, blue fur but violet hair, age estimated to be about twenty-two."

Chase turned the laptop around and showed them the mug shot.

"Yep. That's her." Marcus confirmed.

"What about her?"

"…Al, Anne, Chase. I need to tell you something that you're probably not going to believe at first, but if you know me, you'll know I'm not lying."

**One horrific story later…**

"My God…" Anna gasped once Marcus had finished. "Krystal was a…no…I don't believe that for one second."

"Good, because you shouldn't. My mother wasn't responsible for all those things that happened, and Peppy had that file deleted out of sympathy with her. This woman, who is in a way also my mother, is trying to essentially eat my soul. I don't know why, and I don't think I want to know why, but that's the truth and nothing less."

Chase pressed a hand to his head like his brain was starting to hurt.

"That's gotta be the biggest shocker I've heard in the past year. So you think she has something to do with the orb that the mech puked up?"  
"Just a hunch. Everything is when she's involved."

That was when the team noticed Anna looking at the floor and stroking her chin, appearing to be in very deep thought.

"No…that can't be…" she mumbled to herself.  
"What do you think, Anne?" Coyote asked.

"…I'm not sure yet, but I've got a really bad feeling that we're going to see more of these."

"More of them?!"  
"Yeah…pray that the hunch I've got is at least 80% wrong."

"That's a little exact, but okay."

Every single one of them jumped and yelped in fright when Marcus' pager went off. Marcus himself scowled down at it.

"I'm starting to hate this thing even more than Slenderman." he sighed before checking it.

The call was from someone who wasn't entered in Marcus' database, and since the team had just had a very unnerving conversation about Kursed, he dreaded who was going to answer when he brought it up to his ear and said…

"Hello?"

"Hey, Marcus! Haven't heard from you in a while."

"Haven't heard…who is this?!"

"Aw, c'mon. It hasn't been THAT long since we last saw each other."

"Wait…Samus?!"

"Nailed it."

Samus Aran was indeed someone Marcus hadn't expected to hear from. She was usually viewed as someone who kept to herself, but it looked like things had changed.

Marcus smiled and started up a decent conversation.

"Didn't expect to hear from you ever again. How are you?"

"Not bad. Can't complain, but I figured I'd let you know that I'm on my way back to Corneria right now."

"You are? For what? Is there someone you're hunting down."  
"Yeah: you."

"….huh?"

"I'm hunting you down for a rematch."

"…oh, that! I don't know, though. The weather's been getting pretty bad around here recently."

"Since when has that ever stopped people like us?"

"…huh. Good point."

Marcus walked off, talking to Samus with pager still pressed to his ear since he had yet to add her to his database. While he was gone, out came the questions from Chase's mouth.

"Anna, you don't think…that these things are from 'the place', do you?"

"Like I said, hope that I'm at least 80% wrong."

"You ever see _The Dark Knight_? When the Joker said 'Why so serious?'? Here's my question: why so specific?"

"Every little bit counts. The more wrong I am, the better."

Coyote meanwhile sat down with a very depressed look on her face. It hurt enough that she had once idolized Kursed, but seeing how upset it made Marcus just made her feel even worse.  
"Damn her…I wish I'd get a chance to meet her. Then I could send her a greeting from Mark."

She jumped slightly when Damalgo laid a hand on her shoulder.

"You alright?" he asked.

"…I'm just worried. I've got this horrible feeling that everything's gonna go wrong in one quick instant, and…what if Mark gets killed? That's all she wants, isn't it? Just to murder him right in front of his friends and family?"

Damalgo smiled.

"Chin up, okay? He's a tough kid. Besides, he's got us, right? I think you'd rather die yourself than let anything bad happen to him."

"Yes…I would…but I don't want it to come to that."

"Don't worry. It won't."

"How do you know?"

"I just know, okay? Don't question it and don't worry about it."

Coyote lightly smiled, though the nervous feelings were still there. It couldn't be helped. Marcus was her boyfriend of three years and she loved him with all her heart. How could she NOT be worried about him?

Finally, Marcus came back into the room after a quick "Alright. See you then" and switched off his pager.

"So what was that all about?" Chase asked. "What's Samus Aran coming here for?"

Marcus smiled and cracked his knuckles.

"Time to dig the _Crystal Vixen _out again."

_And if you read the last story, I think you know what that means. __Well, this one didn't take long to write up, did it? Probably because there wasn't really any action, but whatever. _

_Anyhow, Happy Halloween if you celebrate it! Go out and get some free candy or go scare some kids or go to church if you're one of those religious fanatics that still thinks Halloween is the time of the Devil...which makes me question why you're reading something like this. I'll see you guys later._


	6. 5: Revving the Engine of Chaos

CHAPTER FIVE

**Revving the Engine of Chaos**

**February 21****st****, 2057**

**Cornerian Global Raceway**

"This planet gets more advanced by the day, doesn't it?" Marcus said as he looked out at the redesigned track.

Three years ago, the raceway had been your standard track since the F-Zero Grand Prix had only recently begun coming to Corneria. Considering the possibility of it happening again, the track received a massive overhaul, and I do mean massive. There was now a sky-high ramp that dropped off into a floating half-pipe, as well as sudden 80-degree drops. Not only that, but there were speed boosters littered throughout the track, as well.

The weather, like Marcus had said before, wasn't as pleasing to the eye as the track was. The clouds were black and stormy-looking, almost as though they would begin pouring rain at any minute. Nonetheless, the bleachers were full to the bursting point just like they had been back then. Humans and Lylatians never looked so good next to each other.

Marcus' heart skipped a beat when a hand clapped down on his shoulder, but turned to find a smiling blond-haired human woman.

"There's the dastardly little fox I've been looking for!" Samus said heartily. "How are you, Mark?"

"Pretty good. You don't look too bad yourself if I'm obliged to say so. I guess alien guts are good for the complexion."

"More or less."

"Ah. Hello there, you two." said the tall human man that approached them now. "Good to see you're both coming back for another go at this."

"Falcon!" Marcus beamed.

Captain Douglas Jay Falcon. The runner-up from the race three years ago who just barely lost to Marcus, and had thankfully been a good sport about it. Not to mention he saved Marcus from getting severely injured during the last race. Here he was again, looking as friendly as ever and still with that red helmet casting a shadow over most of his face.

"Just warning you now, though: I'm not taking it easy on you this time." he said with a brief chuckle following this statement. "This is a sport, after all. You either win or you don't."

"Right. This time, I won't slow you down." Marcus replied with a huge smile. "It's gonna be fair game form here on out."

"Drivers, please proceed to your vehicles!" a computerized voice announced over the intercom.

"Looks like the games are about to begin." Samus said, lightly punching Marcus' on the shoulder. "Good luck out there, kid."

"Ditto."

All thirty-three of the drivers proceeded to the…

"Wait…thirty-THREE?" Marcus thought.

Marcus turned around and looked behind him. There was someone there wearing a ninja-style mask over their face, though from the person's body shape, he could tell it was a woman. That was about all he could make out, and all he could do was pray to the highest power that it wasn't Kursed.

Regardless of this, he shook the thoughts out and hopped inside his F-Zero machine, the _Crystal Vixen_. It had been a long time since he'd even seen this thing, let alone driven it. For a moment as he set foot inside, he was worried that all of the skills he had accumulated from it would be lost, but once he was seated comfortably inside, all the sense of familiarity came rushing back to him in satisfying heaps. Parked on his left was the _Blue Falcon, _and parked to his right was the _Zebes Dagger_, with Falcon and Samus piloting them respectively. Both of them gave Marcus a friendly thumbs-up, wishing him good luck. He returned the gesture, but looking in his rear view mirror, he could see the masked woman get into the vehicle behind him called the _Cemetery Gate. _The woman looked at him, seemed to smile, and gave him a sly wink. He didn't return the gesture. He just raised an eyebrow.

Meanwhile in the bleachers, all of Marcus' friends and family were there to cheer him on. Chase, Slippy, Amanda, Tyler, Anna, Bill, Lucy, Peter, Damalgo, Susan, Fox, and Krystal. The only one who hadn't shown up was Peppy, Anna's grandfather and the head general of the Cornerian Army. To paraphrase, he had said that he would most definitely be able to make it if nothing came up, obviously meaning that something had.

"What a shame. I think he'd really enjoy this."

"Drivers, start your engines!" the announcer said from somewhere else in the area.

Marcus smirked and flipped the ignition switch. The rocket thrusters sputtered to life and the vehicle rose a foot or so above the ground, as did the rest of the machines. Down came a video screen, and up came the numbers.

"Three!"

Marcus took hold of the steering console…

"Two!"

He rested his foot on the gas pedal…

"One!"

He gritted his teeth in an excited smirk, and…

"GO!

…as the kids would say, he shot off like a frickin' bullet.

He didn't cheer at the top of his lungs like he did the last time. Back then, this was brand new to him and the adrenaline rush had taken over right away. Since he had a sense of familiarity, the adrenaline was going to take a minute or two to kick in. That didn't make him any less of a threat to the other drivers. Chase and Slippy had shown up a few days earlier to help work on the _Crystal Vixen _in hopes of upgrading its accelerator.

Thankfully, it looked like it was working, because he was zipping right by quite a few of the machines as the track's map showed up on his monitor. Right as they were about to make the first turn, the _Zebes Dagger_ zipped by him. Marcus just barely managed to catch a glimpse of Samus' smirking face. Marcus replied with his own smirk.

"So that's how she wants this to go down…"

Marcus drifted to the right as the machine called the _Wild Goose _went barreling towards him, forcing the latter to smash into the guardrail before rebounding back at him.

"Sweet! Handball! …or is that F-Zero Ball…ah, the hell with it."

Marcus spun the steering control around, causing the _Crystal Vixen _to pull off an incredible spin attack, launching the _Wild Goose_ off the track. Marcus slammed down on the gas pedal again, to launch further forward, and as he neared 10th place, he looked to his left and saw that he was neck-and-neck with the _Blue Falcon_. Captain Falcon himself looked over at him with a grin.

"Looks like someone's already having fun." he chuckled.

"It's gonna get better. Just you wait."

"I'm counting on it. See you up ahead."

Falcon swerved out of the way of another machine, the _Fire Stingray_. Marcus smirked. Three years ago he had saved Samus from getting demolished by this same machine, and he honestly couldn't blame the driver for wanting revenge as he came swerving towards him. Marcus slammed on the brakes, forcing the _Crystal Vixen _to shoot backwards and getting the_ Fire Stingray _to simply smash into the guardrail and rebound back onto the track.

The vehicles zipped through a large jump over water, and as Marcus was descending, he caught a glimpse of the _Cemetery Gate _right next to him. When they landed, this vehicle's driver looked over at him again and seemed to laugh. Marcus scowled at swerved towards her. He wasn't normally the offensive type for this kind of sport, but something about this girl was unnerving him.

It turned out that he wasn't the only one good at dodging: the _Cemetery Gate _moved every which way imaginable to avoid his attacks. Finally, Marcus gave up and slammed on the boost pedal, trying to get as far away from this person as he could, when she suddenly rammed him from behind. Shaken slightly, Marcus growled at her. She simply made the giggling expression again before zipping away.

"Sheesh. The nerve of some people. Alright, what place are we in…oh, for cryin' out loud, you again?!"

Them being the _Death Anchor_, a familiar machine that had severely harassed him the last time he had raced. The last time, Marcus had completely trashed it, but here it was looking good as new and more durable than before. Not to mention it was barrelling right towards him. Marcus gritted his teeth with a cocky smirk stretching across his face.

"You wanna play rough?! Okay! Then come at me, bro! …yeah, no 'say hello to my little friend' this time."

The second the _Death Anchor_ came close enough, Marcus swerved out of the way. The vehicle dove at him again. He performed a spin attack, pushing it away from him. The vehicle looked like it was about to dive at him again, and Marcus unfortunately fell for it, swerving backwards before realizing that the driver had tricked him. The next thing he knew, he was being scraped against the guardrail and sending sparks shooting everywhere.

"Okay, I'll admit it…he's playin' rough, and it's taking its toll on me."

It was then Marcus realized what the driver of the _Death Anchor_ was doing: he was keeping Marcus fastened against the guard rail in the hopes that the sudden turn coming up would send our hero careening into the water below. In an effort to get him off, Marcus jammed the steering console in the opposite direction that he was being pushed. This at least got his vehicle's side off of the guardrail, but it didn't move him far enough to get him out of harm's way.

"C'mon, you piece of crap, get off me!" he growled.

Just when it looked like he had no time left, up came the _Zebes Dagger_ ramming into the back of the _Death Anchor_ and sending it flying away, hitting the guardrail in front of them and going flipping over the edge.

"Just be sure to help me further up if I need it, okay?" Samus asked.

"After having that little event play out, I'd say you deserve it."

Off the vehicles went, accelerating to nearly impossible speeds upon landing on the speed boosters littered throughout the track before beginning their ascent up the sky-high ramp.

"This one's gonna be a doozy."

And it certainly was. The 31 remaining F-Zero machines went shooting off the ramp, gliding several hundred yards before landing in the floating half-pipe, swerving up its walls to avoid hitting the others. There were several speed boosters on this section of the track as well, and Marcus unfortunately skidded over one trying to straighten out. This sent his side smashing into the back of the _Golden Fox_ which unfortunately for him went surging off the course.

"Uhh…sorry…I know it's too late because you're already off the track, but…sorry."

The half-pipe then began to rapidly descend until the machines launched out of the end and into the massive tunnel leading underwater. The scent of familiarity came back in spades now that Marcus had entered this particular area. Last time, he had broken off the path into a shortcut under maintenance and was attacked by Kursed, resulting in him having to be saved by Captain Falcon. Since Kursed was slightly more active than she had been three years ago (if he was right, that is), taking the shortcut might not have been the greatest idea, but…it didn't matter. The shortcut seemed to have been removed from the track.

"Just as well. Shortcuts are frowned upon, anyway…not illegal, just frowned upon."

Marcus slammed down on the boost pedal and shot ahead into sixth place. He looked back at the trailing competition for a moment and smirked.

"Jeez, could ya go any slower…I totally just went and jinxed it, didn't I?"

Yes. Yes, you did. Right out of the blue (Ah! See what I did there? …'cause Marcus' fur is blue? …shit.) came the slim yet sturdy _Sonic Phantom_, crashing right into the back of the _Crystal Vixen _and lurching it forward. Marcus returned the favour by performing a spin attack, causing one of the wings to bump into the _Sonic Phantom_'s hood and send it hurtling backward. Not enough to force into any severe damage, but enough to get it away from him.

It was then that Marcus noticed a shadow hovering directly above him. He had the right mind not to look, but his instinct quickly overcame that, and he saw something that he was hoping he wouldn't see at that particular moment: a vehicle called the _Black Bull _was magnetically attached to the ceiling and Marcus could see the vehicle's driver was smiling evilly down at him.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me."

Marcus slammed on the brakes the second the _Black Bull _released from the ceiling. The latter smashed against the ground upside-down, giving Marcus enough time to maneuver his way around it and speed away before it could try and catch up with him. After a few nosedives and sharp turns, the vehicles rocketed up out of the pipe, over an newly added loop, and across the line for the second lap.

"You got this in the bag, Mark!" Peter cheered. "Keep it up, mate!"  
"Go for it, sis!" Scott yelled.

"Who, who, hold up…what's Scott doing here? And what does he mean 'sis'?"

As Marcus pondered these thoughts, the _Cemetery Gate_ pulled up beside him and the driver was smiling at him again. It didn't take long for Marcus to put two-and-two together, and when he did, a big smile stretched across his face.

"No freakin' way, man!" he laughed.

The girl took off the mask, and just as he thought…

"Hey, Mark!" Coyote chirped.

"So if you can't beat me in a dogfight or a fist fight, you figured you could beat me in an F-Zero race?"  
"Yeah. That would be why I'm doing it."

"We'll see about that."

"Indeed we will."

They split off from one another and Coyote managed to zip over a speed booster to get ahead. That was when Samus pulled up beside Marcus.

"She a friend of yours?" he asked.

"My girlfriend, actually. She's a little stubborn sometimes, but then again, so am I."

"You gonna to take it easy on her?"

"I'm not sure. Morally it would be the best thing to do, but competitively it would be the absolute worst."

"If you ask me, I think that you should just go with your HOLY SHIT!"

Right as Samus had been about to finish her sentence, the pavement in front of them splintered and reared up, halting the _ Crystal Vixen _and the _Zebes Dagger_ and sending them tilting backward until they crashed upside-down.

Dazed and completely unsure of what exactly had hit them, Marcus and Samus kicked their cockpits open and crawled out after a few moments of just lying there and trying to get the aching feeling out.

"What in the name of…Coyote? You okay?"

"Over here…ow…"

Coyote stumbled toward the two of them with her own F-Zero machine completely trashed. She seemed to have been flung from her vehicle judging from the badly skinned knee and the numerous scratches along her arms and face.

"Did anyone see what hit us?" Samus asked.

"Not a damn thing." Coyote replied. "I bet one of the other racers is being a cheating bastard."

"Wouldn't be too surprising with all the shady folks that entire these kinds of events."

Marcus groaned and shook out anymore nauseous feelings he might have had.

"Well, I guess we lose. Let's…wait a minute…"

Marcus' ears pricked up as his ESP kicked in. Whatever was approaching was coming fast. He hadn't a clue what it was or what it wanted, but it was huge and it was starting to make his head ache. Not to mention he could hear a noise unlike anything he had ever heard before…and it was directing him back towards the bleachers where the audience was watching.

"No…she wouldn't…"

Before Samus or Coyote had any time to stop him, Marcus started running back to the crowd as fast as he could. Everyone was confused why he seemed to be in such a panicked state, but as soon as he got back to the starting line and screamed "EVERYBODY GET OUT OF HERE NOW!", the confusion got even worse.

It was at this time that Samus and Coyote had managed to catch up with him, but now everybody could hear the same sound Marcus had heard. Then, out from the stormy clouds came an incredibly large and menacing flagship. No one was sure what it was until several smaller pods deployed from the flagship and began flying down towards the pavement.

That was when Samus grew panicked.

"PIRATES!"

Indeed, the creatures that jumped down from the pods once they had reached the ground were the hideous Space Pirates. A gang of alien menaces that had been the subject of a number of Samus' grievances throughout her life. Not only had many of her friends from the Galactic Federation been killed off by them, but they were responsible for the destruction of her home planet K-2L. One in particular had murdered her parents in front of her when she was a child, but she was better off not thinking about that.

Everyone in the arena screamed and ran for the exits as quickly as they could. Samus tampered with her wrist communicator as the _Zebes Dagger _morphed back into her familiar gunship and landed in front of her.

"Time to suit up."

She tampered with a few more buttons and spread her limbs apart before closing her eyes. In a brilliant flash of light, the particles of the legendary Chozo Varia amour began forming over her body, encasing her in warm-coloured armour, along with a green arm cannon and a red helmet with a green visor.

"You're not just taking them on alone." Marcus insisted. "We're helping you."

"You're better off not getting in my way, Mark." Samus said with a sudden cold tone that was completely new to the young McCloud. "These guys aren't like the thugs you normally deal with."

"Hey, they may be your bad guys, but it's our planet they're attacking. Like it or not, we're helping you. You're a bounty hunter, not a superhero."

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."

Marcus nodded and spoke into his communicator.

"Star Fox assemble! We've got a planetary raid on our hands!"

The team was overhead in the Arwings in no time flat.

"Al, let's have you on the ground with me and Coyote. The rest of you take to the skies."

The _Bonesetter _landed on the ground and out jumped Damalgo, but what got to both Marcus and Coyote was just how different he looked from when they had last seen him. Clearly _Duke Nukem Forever _had an impact on him, because he was now wearing a very flashy belt, a pair of sunglasses, and a red muscle shirt.

And as if that wasn't enough, he whipped out a shotgun and said the line.

"It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum…and I'm all outta gum."

"You know I met Duke Nukem once?" Samus replied.

"Wait, how is that possible? Isn't he just a fictional character?"

"He commissioned a gang of companies to make games based on his adventures, and let me tell you that not all of them are completely accurate."

"Huh. What was he like?"

"He tried to put the moves on me and got really pissed off when he saw it wasn't impressing me at all. Sorry, guys, but if you're gonna get with me, being a tough guy and trying to get me to bend over right after you've met me isn't the way to do it."

And let that be a lesson to you.

"No sense arguing about whether or not the guy's a good role model!" Chase shouted. "Here they come!"

"Activate Power Beam. Shoot to kill!" Samus barked before a loud beep came from her helmet and the grooves on her cannon turned a bright gold hue.

The pirates nearly immediately noticed Samus, drawing energy shields and attaching their own arm cannons before running towards our foot soldiering heroes. Marcus whipped out his staff and deflected the first fired blast, lunging at the closest pirate and impaling him with the spear end.

"Engage the enemy!" he ordered. "No holding back!"

Anna, Chase and Peter dove into the area, firing at whatever ships came too close to the ground for the others to fight properly.

"Oi, Coyote!" Peter said from above. "Got a little present for ya!"

He swooped down low enough and dropped a metal box out of his cargo hold. Coyote dashed over to it, opened it up, and cheered when the items inside automatically attached themselves to her hands.

"Hell yeah! Repulsor Gauntlets!"

"What's a Repulsor Gauntlet?" asked Samus.

"You know Iron Man?" Peter replied.

"Sure."

"Picture him mixed in a blender with Freddy Krueger, and check it out."

The closest pirate received a blast of energy from the palm of the silver gloves that Coyote now had on her hands, sending it flying over the guardrail of the track.

"And when they get too close..." she continued.

She clenched her fists and flexed her fingers. Much to Samus' surprise, long blades sprouted from the tips of the gloves' fingers.

"And I thought I got crazy weapons."

Marcus flipped over the first pirate to come at him and back-kicked him to the ground before impaling another one, followed up by an uppercut and a roundhouse kick to put down a third before ripping the gun off his arm.

"Now THIS is one weird-ass gun if I've ever seen one."

"Hold on to that, mate!" Peter instructed. "I could probably run a few tests and make somethin' real good out of it."

"Can I use it now?"

"Why're you askin' me? I didn't build it!"

Samus shoved her arm cannon down the throat of one of the pirates, charging up her Power Beam and releasing it full blast to rupture his insides. Another pirate came up behind her, to which she responded with the use of her Grapple Beam from the cannon mounted on the underside of her left arm to lasso him towards her and hurl him away. Yanking her cannon out, she blasted the closest one to her away with a missile and curled up into her Morph Ball mode to dodge the blasts coming from the nearby rooftops were pirate snipers had positioned themselves, all of whom were cleared off with charged shots from Chase and Anna. Across from Samus was Damalgo, shooting one pirate point-blank in the face and then knocking another unconscious by beating him with the butt of his gun. Another close pirate attempted a cheap shot to Damalgo's groin, only to start hopping up and down on one foot while clutching the other after he hit a metal plate that the Sharpclaw wore in case anyone ever tried that.

"Don't you know, pal? I've got balls of steel." he laughed before blasting the alien thug in the chest.

Oh, come on, you knew he had to say that at some point.

Coyote's method of fighting off the pirates could be described as nothing less than ninja-like. She flipped over one, landed on his back, and ran a finger-blade across his throat to slit it. Following that, she hopped off of him and tossed a repulsor blast, launching another pirate away from her before performing a Liu Kang style bicycle kick to a third and a flip kick to a fourth. As a fifth closed in on her and opened his mouth to let out a battle cry, he found himself choking on Marcus' staff as it stabbed through the back of his throat.

"Bit off a violent way to finish off a goon, don't you think?" Coyote said with a smirk.

"Just making sure this romp gets that M rating."

"Right, as if us saying fuck six times isn't enough to do that…seven if you count now."

Trust me; it's only gonna get worse.

"Heads up, guys!" Damalgo yelled. "We've got some armoured ones headed our way!"

"Switching to Plasma Beam." Samus responded. "Maximum heat output."

The grooves on her cannon switched from gold to reddish-orange as a group of pirates covered in armour made up of some unknown material approached them, one or two holding what appeared to be miniguns.

"May I?" Damalgo asked.

"Sure." Marcus smirked.

"Sweet!"

The Sharpclaw turned to the pirates.

"We're not gonna fight you…we're gonna kick your ass!"

Off went the miniguns, revving up and firing off at 10,000 rounds per minute (which is how many per second, Heavy?). Thankfully, an extreme rise in firepower meant an extreme drop in speed, making these two far less of a threat than anticipated and giving the four foot soldiers time to get close enough to attack, albeit with Coyote having to flip over the onslaught of bullets as it came just a hair too close. A blast from Damalgo's shotgun and a shot from Marcus' staff's Fire Blaster eliminated some of the smaller cronies, while the two bigger ones were able to swing their guns like siege weapons. Upon getting close enough to fire, they realized that their weapons had little to no effect on these monstrosities. The least they could do was get them to fidget slightly.

"Heads up, Mark!" Coyote yelled as she jumped out of the way of one such siege attack.

Marcus had just enough time to catch the barrel of the gun telepathically. Right as the pirate saw that he wouldn't be able to shove the gun any closer, he started revving up the barrel to fire.

"Pardon me," Samus started as she leaped into the air. "But would you mind if I inspected your gun?"

She shifted into Morph Ball mode and dropped into the gun's barrel. Before the pirate could do anything about it, a small bomb dropped out and detonated, throwing him off-balance and falling to the ground as Samus dropped out and shifted back.

"Yep. I'd say everything checks out. I'd just like to see your license and registration…what, don't have one?"

She aimed her cannon at the seam in the armour that had exposed itself after the pirate had fallen.

"In that case, you're off to the big house in Hell!"

The plasma wasted no time eating through the armour and melting everything underneath. The pirate lay dead after a few brief moments of convulsing in agony. While Samus had been at that, Damalgo and Coyote had taken to the other pirate, with the former blasting the pirate once on each foot and kicked the barrel of his gun to topple his balance, followed by the latter using a repulsor blast to knock him off his feet and jumping on his chest to finish the job.

"Welcome to prime time, bitch!" she yelled before burying the finger-blades into the pirate's head.

As Chase cleared more pirates off of the rooftops and downed some more of the fighter ships with the help of Anna and Peter, he noticed a point on his radar. Whatever it was, it was coming fast and giving off a familiar signal.

"Whoa, whoa, hold up, guys! There's a huge energy reading coming from the south!"

"More fighters?" asked Marcus.

"No…it's similar to that reading we got from the orb a few days ago! The boss is inbound!"

"Boss?"

"Y'know how in some games you have to take down a huge number of cronies before you fight a huge monster that rewards you with something if you beat it?"

"Oh…odd terminology, but alright. Can we get a visual on it?"

"Already on it, mate." Peter replied, slamming on his boost pedal and jetting off in the direction that Chase had pointed out.

He had gotten quite a distance away from the track without seeing a thing, when suddenly something flew over him faster than he could see for a moment.

"What in bloody…I've got a visual…I think."

"What is it?" Coyote asked.

"I can't believe I'm sayin' this, but…I think I just saw a dragon."

Upon hearing the word 'dragon' come from Coyote's communicator, Samus' expression went from concerned to panicked.

"Wait…did he just say 'dragon'?!"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Oh, no…"

You know what music to put on now, right?

"EVERYBODY HIT THE DECK!" Samus screamed.

Without any sort of reluctance or questioning, the four foot soldiers dove to the ground right as the massive creature Peter had seen flew over top of them, unleashing a loud roar that filled the air with dread. Samus gritted her teeth, looked up, and saw exactly who she was expecting to see.

"Ridley, you bastard!"

Indeed, the monster flying in front of them was the gigantic violet-skinned Ridley, who seemed to smirk at Samus before flying off towards the city.

"Get back here!" Samus yelled before tapping a few buttons on her arm cannon to remotely contact her ship.

The Star Fox foot soldiers did the same, calling the Arwings down to them.

"New target, team!" Marcus ordered. "After that dragon!"

The team and Samus launched after Ridley, who had taken flight above the city and was beginning to rain flames down on it, sending anyone on the streets running in terror and even smashing his extremely long tail through several buildings that Marcus had to telepathically struggle safely to the ground to keep anyone inside from getting hurt.

"Everybody!" Samus barked. "His weak point is his head!"

"You seem to know quite a bit about this thing, Samus." Anna replied.

"More than I'd want to…the fucker killed my parents in cold blood."

"Oh…wow. Sorry."

"You can be sorry by helping me put this monster in his place."

By the time the team had caught up to Ridley, he was out over the ocean and steadily climbing back up into the sky.

"Wait just a cotton picking minute…" Chase started. "He's not…no way!"

"What?"

"He's heading for the Beltino Orbital Gate!"

"Is that bad?" asked Samus.

"Bad?! He'll knock out our communications to the rest of the galaxy if he gets there!"

"Then let's speed it up!" Marcus instructed. "He can't outrun all of us!"

Despite an Arwing being lighter than an average spacecraft and being very aerodynamic, Ridley was still able keep speeding on ahead, even as he turned his head backward and spat fire at his pursuers. They swerved out of the way and began firing ruthlessly in a somewhat futile attempt to hit him. Ridley either swerved away somewhat gracefully, deflected them with flames, or batted them away with his wings, not to mention using his whip-like tail to smash Anna's ship.

"He knows how to play rough, doesn't he?" Anna sighed.

"For cryin' out loud, just hold still, you dragon dinosaur…umm….thing" Peter said. "...what exactly is this guy, anyway."

"It's no use, guys." said Samus. "The only way to get any damage in on him is to get up close and personal."

"So what do you suggest?"

Samus gritted her teeth.

"It's gonna be risky, but…Mark! Let's you and me fly over and drop down on him! We'll have to hit him from point-blank range!"

"Got it. The rest of you stay back and be ready to cover us."

Samus and Marcus flew over the massive reptile and ejected from their ships to land on his back. Ridley looked backward and saw that little girl that he had been unfortunate to leave alive that day on K-2L, all decked out in her Varia Suit and trying to look tough. He opened his mouth and let loose.

"Heads up!" Marcus yelled, tackling Samus out of the way.

"Hold on! He's angling himself higher!"

The two grabbed on to Ridley's rigid back as best as they could as he turned himself higher up towards the sky in an effort to shake them off. The gale blowing through Marcus' fur was nearly enough to make him loose his grip, as did Samus being that she was wearing a heavy metal suit, but they clung on for dear life. This thing had to be taken down one way or another.

Once the two had solidified their grip, the climb began. Steadily they pulled themselves higher and higher up Ridley's back, dangling slightly when they reached his quickly beating wings. Ridley himself became aware of how high up they were and started shaking himself about to try and buck them off, but to no avail. Steadily they went higher and higher and…

"Samus Aran. What an honour to meet you."

Samus looked all around, trying to find out where the cold female voice had come from.

"Who said that?" she said aloud.

Then she appeared, defying gravity and standing just in front of the two of them.

"I did."

Marcus scowled up at her before reaching behind him and stabbing at her with his staff. She effortlessly stepped back away from it and chuckled.

"Gimme a second, Marky. I want to meet your friend here."

Kursed crouched down and looked straight through Samus' visor, peering evilly into the bounty hunter's eyes.

"Tell me, Samus: what was it like to watch your mother and father die right in front of you?"

All the horrible memories came rushing back to her…the monster she clung to burning her city down along with all the other Space Pirates he had brought with him…and still she came up to him and asked him if the two could be friends. He paused for a moment, seemingly unsure of what she was talking about, but then he attacked…and the blow was taken by another.

"Mother…" Samus said, a light tear slipping out of her eye.

"Aww, how sad." Kursed mocked. "If you like, I might be able to help you bring them back."

"W-what?...you can?"

"Yes…perhaps even Adam and Rundas, too."

"No, Samus!" Marcus yelled. "She's lying!"

Samus paid no attention to Marcus. Kursed offered her hand down to her, and the bounty hunter reached out to take it…

"ACTIVATE SUPER MISSILE!"

Kursed disappeared right as it fired, and luckily it passed by and hit Ridley on the back of the head, forcing him to roar in agony and level out.

"Phew…for a second, I thought you were falling for it." Marcus sighed.

"I almost did, but I guess it's just a life lesson: the past is written in stone, but the future is a blank page waiting to be written."

"Words to live by. Now let's finish this creep."

The two stood and started dashing for Ridley's head, when suddenly…

"Oh, Samus…so unwise."

As quickly as Samus had arrived at Ridley's head and was prepared to blast it, Kursed jumped out of nowhere and kicked her off, sending her screaming and falling to the ground miles below.

"You bitch!" Marcus yelled.

"I try." Kursed smirked. "Now how about you?"

Marcus readied his staff, and it appeared he was ready to fight, when he dove off after Samus. Ridley could wait.

He quickly caught up with Samus and seized her right as she looked behind them.

"Look out!"

Ridley was divebombing after them spewing flames to go along with it. Marcus quickly tapped a few buttons on his wrist communicator, causing the _Arwing III _to swoop up underneath them as they landed safely inside. Right as they did, Marcus shut the cockpit and jetted back towards the ground with Ridley still chasing them. The other team members were following, trying their hardest to get the reptilian monster away from their leader.

"Shit. He's too fast…oh, no!" Coyote stammered. "MARK, BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

Right as she said that, Ridley opened his jaws and snapped them down on one of the _Arwing III'_s wings, forcing it to go hurtling towards the ground and crashing against the racetrack in a fiery mess. Marcus wearily pulled himself out, dragging Samus along with him who was just barely able to assist him with it.

"Are you okay?"

Samus' helmet faded away, revealing her beaten and scarred face from the crash.

"Mark…I can't…feel my legs…I think I'm paralyzed."

Marcus got to his feet and heaved Samus onto his back.

"Come on. We've gotta get you to the paramedics."

"But what about Ridley?"

Marcus gritted his teeth as Ridley began flying back towards the Orbital Gate in the sky.

"Team, is there any way you can collide paths with him?"

"No, Mark…" Chase said in sorrow. "He's just too fast."

Then came the voice that saved the day.

"Then leave it to me."

Dashing by Marcus and Samus went the _Blue Falcon,_ racing up the sky-high ramp at top speed after Ridley.

"Falcon, what are you doing?!" Marcus yelled.

"A good captain goes down with his ship, Marcus. You should know that."

"Are you out of your mind?! You're willing to throw your life away just to save someone else's world."

"I want you to remember something, Marcus. A true hero will give up everything to save anything. I'm doing the right thing. All I ask is that you don't let it be in vain."

"Cap…don't do it."

The _Blue Falcon_ surged off of the ramp and out over the open ocean, flying high above Ridley's head. Captain Falcon smiled up at the sky.

"Yes…this is what it means to be a hero. I have no regrets."

He slammed a button, sending himself jetting out of his ship and soaring down towards Ridley, who had almost no time to react. Right as Captain Falcon was about to reach the monster, his helmet went flying off of his head to reveal his triumphant and determined face as he bellowed the two famous words.

"FALCON PUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!"

Flames spurted from his gloves as he slammed down into Ridley and took the both of them plummeting down towards the water in a fiery meteor, sending cloud upon cloud of steam into the air as they sent up a splash nearly as high as building, and then…nothing.

"No…how could he…wait…"

Marcus could just barely make out Falcon drifting on the water. A glint of hope in his heart, he yelled into his wrist communicator.

"Someone get down there and fish him out!"

The _Punk Rock-It _and the _Iron Maiden _were the first to make it as Anna and Coyote hopped out and dove down into the water after Falcon as he began to sink. They surfaced not three seconds later, with Coyote cradling Falcon and Anna holding what everyone had expected to see: an orb similar to the one they had found before.

"Heartbeat's irregular, but life signs undeniable!" Coyote barked.

"Get him back here quick!' Marcus ordered. "We need to get these two to the hospital!"

**NOT TWO MINUTES LATER…**

There had been no decisive victor of the race, but judging from what had just happened, that was the least of anyone's concerns. People were lined up and down the street as Falcon and Samus were loaded into an ambulance, the latter clutching Marcus' hand.

"Thanks….for everything. The universe needs people like you to carry out the good fight."

"Don't worry about that. You need to rest easy. That's an order."

"Hey, buddy, I'm a bounty hunter. I take my own orders."

"At least take this one…don't die, okay?"

"Okay…take care of yourself, Mark."

They were driven away in nearly an instant, leaving the team alone on the track.

"It's all for me…she'll hurt anybody just to get to me."

Chase approached him after carefully inspecting the orb.

"Alright, Mark. Let's see what happens this time."

Marcus looked at the orb for a brief moment, unsure of whether or not he was prepared to face whatever may happen. Nevertheless, he nodded and reluctantly placed his hand on the orb. Instead of a vision, what happened was Kursed's cold and slithery voice echoing throughout the city, sending chills up everyone's spines as they stood and listened.

"People of Corneria, I am Kursed. Perhaps you remember me, perhaps not. It doesn't matter. What does is that one of you poses a very significant threat to me. When one person of a select group opposes me, then it shall be everyone he loves and cares about that suffers. This planet is useless, responsible for every problem that the Lylat System has ever had. To deny that is lying to yourselves. Let it be known that I will not rest, and neither will you…but that's what I'm counting on. Let this be a warning: you are all potential victims, and you're all as good as dead."

Marcus' fury welled up even more inside of him. This was no longer just a small family fued. He sucked in a breath and let it out.

"Then it's war, Kursed…God help us all."

_Indeed. Just a quick warning that I'm going to have about two more chapters of this story up before Christmas, and then I'm going back to doing the Darkstalkers story. Don't confuse that for cancelling this one...and that's it. 'kay, bye._

**_SOUNDTRACK SO FAR_**

_Krystal's nightmare - _"Parabola" by Mer (originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly) - _"Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race - _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space Pirate attack - _Space Pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M (Hey, I like that game! Screw you!)

_Falcon takes down Ridley _- "The Meaning of Truth" by Hiro-X


	7. 6: Bittersweet

CHAPTER SIX

**Bittersweet**

**February 24****th****, 2057**

**Grand Cornerian Airway**

Of all the jobs that paid a surprisingly high amount on Corneria (at least when compared to some other jobs), a night watchman at the airway was probably the most boring. Why? Simple: there was really never anything to see or do. No one had ever tried to break into the airway before, and no one expected anyone to break into it now. Nevertheless, many of the younger recruits often jumped at the opportunity, seeing as how many of the ships inside (the _Great Fox _in particular) were usually things they never got to see before. Not to mention that they sometimes brought their girlfriends who thought the place was scary at night.

But if they thought an empty airway was scary at night, they had clearly never heard of the woman who was strafing back and forth from crate to crate to avoid being seen. She stepped underneath the _Great Fox _and somehow managed to beam herself up. Upon ROB noticing her enter the bridge, he made an attempt to stop her…but failed miserably in the most obvious way.

"I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't…"

"Oh, can it, you bucket of bolts."

With a flick of her finger, it was as though she had blasted him with a shotgun from point blank range, sending the poor droid crashing against the wall.

"BZZT roger, roger BZZT do you want to marry it? WELL I WON'T LET YOU BZZT Stop! You violated the law BZZZT BZZZTT…"

After throwing out an awful amount of sparks and BZZZTing until the cows came home, ROB switched off.

"Honestly, I must have just done them a huge favour. You hear how annoying that is?"

She strolled onto the bridge and found exactly what she had been looking for. She picked up the tiny piece of jewelry and smiled at it almost warmly.

"How sweet of you, Marky. Giving little Coyote an expensive gift. I have to say I'm insulted you didn't want to introduce me to her. She seems like such a charming little girl."

She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"No biggie. I can show myself the way."

With that, she lifted the necklace near her throat before running a claw across it.

**A SLITTING OF ONE'S OWN THROAT LATER…**

"I'm tellin' you, man, the thing was a fuckin' dragon!" one the guards said to his friend. "I saw it with my own eyes!"

"Bullshit. C'mon, how is a dragon supposed to fly through Outer Space?"

"Beats me. Anyhow, did you bring your 3DS?"

"Yep. Got that _Dead or Alive _game with me."

"Is it true that the most of the girls in the game are like half-naked?"

"Oh, dude, you have no idea."

The two guards had their conversation interrupted by a loud clatter followed by a quiet "Shit…".

"No way…is someone trying to bust in here?" the first guard said.

"Hopefully. It's about damn time we had some action."

"Alright. I'll go check it out. You stay here and wait for more of them…if there is any."

The first guard drew his stun gun and proceeded towards the source of the noise. He was half-expecting not to find anything. If they hadn't heard the person coming in, then how could they expect to catch them leaving? However, he saw the outline of a figure hidden in the shadow of the _Great Fox_. He aimed his stun gun toward the figure.

"Hey, you! Get over here!"

Would it be a bad time to say that he's only two days from vacation?

Kursed seductively stepped out of the shadows, narrowing her eyes and smiling as she casually strolled towards the guard.

"Hey there, big boy. Have you come to detain me?"

The sight of such a lovely woman who not only towered over him but had rather good…assets (if you'll pardon me) was nearly enough to make the guard lose his cool, but he kept a firm grip on his stun gun.

"Look, lady, I don't know how you got in here, but this is a secured area, and if you don't leave right now I'll have to…"

"Use force? Sounds like fun?"

Faster than he could comprehend, Kursed had him pressed flat against a nearby crate, stroking his cheek and moaning almost sensually. His pulse was quickly starting to rise, and he felt sweat dripping down his forehead.

"Has anybody ever told you that you're cute when you're mad?"

"Uhh...n-no…not really."

The evil woman chuckled under her breath.

"Relax, darling. This is gonna feel good."

She gently brought her lips closer and closer to his, and as he slowly grew more and more entranced by her, he stood there and took it. He eagerly awaited her touch, when suddenly he felt an excruciating pain. He opened his eyes to find that Kursed had dug on of her claws into his skin and was now smirking evilly at the blood drawing from the wound.

"Well, for me, at least. For you, it's gonna be torturous…very, very torturous."

The scream that the second guard heard from across the room was nearly enough to make him run in terror, but he had taken a sworn duty as part of his job to watch over any of the younger recruits. He quickly ran towards the source.

"Mason! What's going on?!"

He rounded the corner to find what little remained of Mason, as well as the blood-soaked Kursed who seemed to be utterly indulging in the moment before turning her head and focusing her evil gaze on the second guard.

"Ooo, another one! The more the merrier!"

"Oh God, NO!"

The scream that came up this time was loud enough to echo throughout the room and out the open windows, filling the atmosphere full of it. It was loud enough to wake up Marcus, Chase and Anna on their own specific sections of the city, all with the same words on their lips.

"What the hell was that?"

**The next morning…**

Marcus had come to the airway to retrieve the gift he had gotten for Coyote, thinking it would be a simple process that wouldn't take longer than a few minutes to get done. How wrong he was, because when he stepped out of his hovercraft, he saw that last thing he was expecting to see: a quarter of the police force, about five newscasters, a whole load of innocent bystanders, and Chase, the last of which Marcus now approached.

"What happened here?" Marcus asked.

"Two of the guards apparently tried to bust a perp that broke into the airway and…well, you can probably guess the result."

"Well, that explains the newscasters. They just jump at the opportunity to talk about a murder."  
"A slaughter, actually. One of them was skinned alive."

"WHAT?!"

Marcus pushed his way through the crowd, the police trying to stop him before they recognized him and let him pass. He knelt down beside the two covered bodies and steadily uncovered them, only to nearly throw up upon seeing the first one. Mason had indeed been skinned alive, as the exposed muscles and pools of blood blatantly made obvious. Upon seeing the other body, Marcus found that he was surprisingly intact…and then he got a strange feeling in the back of his head. He laid a hand on the man's head and then on his heart. While it took a moment or two, he felt what was undeniably a heartbeat.

"This one's still alive!" he called out.

Right as he said it, the guard jetted back to consciousness, screaming at the top of his lungs and thrashing about like a madman, forcing Marcus to pin him down.  
"Calm down! Everything's alright!"

"She killed him…and then she tried to kill me!"

"Get a hold of yourself, man!"

Marcus truck the guard across the face. Thankfully, this forced him to stop his insane convulsions and slow his breathing back to normal. He seemed to be soothed even more when he looked into Marcus' hypnotizing eyes.

"Now tell me exactly what happened."

The guard took a few more moments to breathe in before telling the story.

"She…she tore him apart…and then she came for me. …she kissed me, and I felt as though everything good that happened in my life….it felt like none of it mattered anymore, like it was all being sucked out of me."

"Who?"

"This woman…violet hair…red eyes…"

Marcus' ears twitched and he growled under his breath. Of course. Who could do something like this other than her? He stood and turned to the paramedics.

"Get this man to the hospital. Now." he said sternly.

They obliged, and as soon as the living guard as the remains of Mason were carted away, the newscasters started to close in on Marcus, who quickly fled underneath the _Great Fox_.

"Mr. McCloud!" one of them called. "What are your thoughts on this incident?"

"No comment. ROB, beam me up."

No response.

"ROB, I know you've glitching out a lot recently, but this is no time to be a wise guy!"

Still no response.

"Son of a bitch…gonna have to do it manually."

"Mr. McCloud!"

"No comment means no comment, Goddammit!"

Marcus stood by the outside control panel for the mothership, flicked a few switches, batted a few cameras away from his face, and finally pushed a button to activate the _Great Fox_'s passenger teleport. He quickly ran underneath and beamed up inside, only to find ROB in pieces on the ground.

"What the f…was she in here?!"

Even though ROB's head had fallen off, he still sparked back to life and started blaring at Marcus.

"You! Yes, you! You are dead!"

"Nope. He's just faulty."

"Entire team eez babies!"

"Switch off, ROB."

"Daisy, daisy…give me your answer dooooooo…."

"Ooookay, walking this way really fast."

Marcus walked past the wrecked robot and to the bridge, where he found his gift to Coyote. Upon picking it up and slipping it into his pocket, a big smile spread across his face.

"Time for the big date. Three years and going strong as ever…now let's just hope I can bail without the fuckin' paparazzi getting on my ass."

The paparazzi themselves were waiting outside for Marcus to come out, paying no attention to the police although they were the ones that even knew a thing about what had happened, not to mention there was another member of Star Fox standing just a little ways away from them. They all yelled out in shock when Marcus' Arwing came surging out of the _Great Fox_'s hangar bay and jetted off into space, though Chase simply smirked.

"Treat her good, Mark. That beauty's worth everything you've got."

**Arriving on Fortuna…**

The _Arwing III _steadily descended into the small hangar perched on a hill just a little ways away from the O'Donnell's home, though not before Marcus took the time to admire this planet's splendour. There was a lovely crystalline blue lake just a few miles away with a colossal waterfall raining down into it, several colorful birds flitted about the tress, and as for the rest of the colour? Green, green, and more green. It was vastly different from Corneria, and for a moment, Marcus was jealous that Coyote got to live on such a beautiful world. But then again, he was so used to the city life that this was probably a little too much for him to handle.

"Hello there." spoke a robotic arm as Marcus stepped out of his ship. "You must be Marcus."

"Yep. And you must be ADA."

"You don't seem to be too phased that I'm a robotic arm."

"Meh. I've seen weirder considering our own robot is glitching out like an NES cartridge."

ADA chuckled, admittedly surprising Marcus that robots were actually capable of emotion.

"Well, thank goodness Wolf took special precautions when he built me."

"Wolf built you?"

"Yep. He's a lot smarter than he looks."

"Huh. How 'bout that? Anyhow, do I just head on up to the house?"

"Wouldn't hurt. Good luck."

Marcus straightened up his jacket and proceeded up the hill.

"Jesus. I'm beginning to think Wolf should have been a carpenter instead of a bounty hunter. Look at this joint!"

I don't think I need to tell you how big the house is since I'm banking on the fact that you read the last story, so let's get to the part where he actually gets to the door.

Right as Marcus was about to knock on the door, it opened to reveal Scott standing there with a beaming face.

"Hi, Mark!" he chirped, jumping up to give Marcus a high-five.

"Hey, there, little man. Your sister in?"

"Yep. She's just upstairs getting changed."

"Changed?...okay, then."

"Come on in!"

Marcus stepped inside the house. It was quite lovely on the inside, too. Not as spacious as his own house, but it had a comfortable look about it. Marcus heard footsteps at the top of the stairs, and for a moment he expected to see Coyote, until someone else entirely walked around the corner and spotted him.

"Ah. Hello there, Marcus. Good to see you."

"You too, Wolf."

Wolf O'Donnell. Not exactly a scary man by any definition of the term, but a rather intimidating one. It was thanks to Marcus and Coyote's relationship that Wolf even started to like the McCloud family considering he had been rivals with Fox for well over twenty years until they had called it off three years ago. Like Marcus had said, though, Wolf was a true family man when it got down to it.

"So what have you been up to recently?" Wolf asked as the two sat down in the living room.

"…well, Samus Aran and Captain Falcon got admitted to the hospital just recently."

"I heard about that. Are they alright?"

"More or less. Samus got banged up really bad. She told me she couldn't feel her legs."

"I wouldn't be too worried. The doctors on Corneria are the best that you could possibly get in the galaxy. Paralysis should take only a month to fix."

"Yeah…Wolf, do you know anything about Kursed?"

Wolf stroked his chin for a moment and thought deeply.

"Now that I think about, Panther once told me that he had a run-in with your mother while she was using that persona."

"Oh…you know about that, huh?"

"He called it one of the most shocking and frightening experiences that he had ever run into. Apparently Krystal tried to tear him limb from limb. I had to run in a save him before things got out of hand…why do you ask?"

Marcus told him the same story he had told Damalgo, Chase and Anna. It didn't seem to shock Wolf, but from the way he gutturally grunted, he could tell that he was at least interested.

"I see."

"And now she's sworn that she'll take down anyone she can to get to me."

"That only makes her more pathetic than she already is."

"What?"

Wolf laid a hand on Marcus' shoulder and looked him straight in the eyes.  
"Tormenting someone is just a passive way of fighting. She's afraid to confront you and Krystal directly, and if that's the case, then chances are that the two of you are possibly much stronger than she could ever hope to be. Tormenting someone is a low blow that shows you have no sense of honour or respect for anyone but yourself. That's not the mark of a true warrior, or even a good person for that matter."

Marcus took a moment to process everything Wolf had told him in his head, then smiled when it all made sense.

"Thanks, Wolf."

"Anytime. You be good to my daughter, now, you got that?"

"Absolutely. I love her more than life itself."

"Good. That's the way it should be."

A pair of arms wrapped around Wolf's shoulder from behind the couch right as he said that.

"You better believe that's the way it should be, 'cause otherwise I'll twist your nuts off." Lori laughed.

Wolf chuckled under his breath and turned his head to kiss his wife's cheek.

"Every day, darling."

Fast footsteps down the stairs signalled it was time for Marcus to stand up and get ready to go, because here came…his half-naked date.

"Jay-zus!" he exclaimed before covering his eyes with one hand.

"Oh, hi, Mark!" Coyote said happily. "Just gimme a second to get a shirt on!"

Marcus turned to Coyote's parents, who were both smirking at him and trying hard not to laugh.

"Uhh…shit happens?"

"Indeed it does, my young friend. Indeed it does."

"Okay! Let's go!" Coyote chirped upon getting properly dressed in a T-shirt and a pair of shorts, along with some hiking boots and a heavy-looking backpack.

"You say that AFTER blinding me, eh?"

"Have fun, kids!" Lori called after them.

The two struck up a conversation as they proceeded up the hill and through the valley.

"They seem well." Marcus started

"They are." Coyote replied. "They've been asking me when I'm going to move out of the house, though."

"What, they want you gone?"

"No. I guess they're just curious, that's all. Besides, I wouldn't be pointing fingers if I were you."

"Yes, I know. I haven't moved out of my parents' house, either."

"There's also that I'd bite your finger off if you pointed it at me."

"Peachy."

"And now it's time for you to gaze in splendour at the beauty that is my home planet."

And so he did. The valley below them had so many trees that it was nearly absurd, with one in the middle stretching all the way to the sky. There was so much colour that it almost put _The Wind Waker _to shame.

"Jeez…so where to?"

Coyote pointed towards the centerpiece of the forest.

"Right there. And let's hurry up. It's almost nightfall."

"…time zones?"

"Yep. We don't wanna be out in the forest when it gets dark out."

"Why not?"

"'Cause I get a little feral at night."

"…the convenience is stunning."

Coyote took his hand and led him down through the forest, rushing through the undergrowth until they finally got to the massive tree.

"And just how pray tell do we get up there?" Marcus asked.

Coyote reached into the backpack she wore and pulled out what looked an awful lot like some sort of gun. She aimed it at a rather large branch about fifty feet of the ground and fired, causing a long hook attached to a cable fly out and clip onto it. She kept her finger on the trigger and cocked her head.

"Grab on…and no holding onto my assets or I'll buck you off me in an instant."

Marcus smirked.

"You have my word."

He wrapped his arms around her torso, and as soon as she was sure he was holding tight, she released the trigger. The cable retracted, pulling the two up through the air and towards the branch as well as forcing them to flip upward when the gun's barrel and hook connected.

"And there we have something Star Wolf DIDN'T rip off." Marcus chuckled.

"Actually Pete made this, but whatever. You hungry?"

"Starved."

Coyote reached into the backpack yet again and whipped out a large metallic container, and upon opening it, Marcus got a warm and delicious scent of cinnamon, honey, and other sweet things, including…

"Is that chocolate?!"

Chocolate?! CHOCOLATE?! CHOOOOOOCOLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE ! ….thanks for laughing at that, dude in the back, 'cause that's probably the stupidest reference in the entire story.

Coyote laughed.

"Of course. Did you think I took a squat over it?"

"Ooookayy, let's just start scarfing this stuff down before that comment gets stuck in my noggin and makes me lose my appetite."

The scarfing began, with them stopping to converse about various things while they were at it. The topics were casual things, like what games they were playing at the moment (for Marcus it was _Tekken Tag Tournament 9_, and for Coyote it was _The Legend of Zelda: United Heroes_), how Fox and Krystal were doing as well as Lori and Wolf, and finally the conversation found its way to how Captain Falcon and Samus were faring in the hospital.

"The doctor said they're doing fine, but Samus is definitely paralyzed. They're going to have to perform some nervous treatments and operations on her before they can get her legs working again. Falcon's been sleeping a lot, but judging from both of their jobs, I can't blame them."

"So how long will it take?"

"At least a month for Samus. Falcon should be fine in a week or so."

"That's good…hey, Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you wondered how Falco and Katt have been doing recently? Neither of us have seen them in a month.

"I'd say a second honeymoon judging from the hopeless romantic that is Falco Lombardi."

"He wasn't like that a few years ago."

"Go figure. It's Falco."

Coyote let out a loud and guttural burp.

"Whoops! 'Scuse me!"

Marcus held up one finger, and Coyote burst out laughing when he let out his own burp that was even louder and more obnoxious than hers. They both shared a moment of laughter before Coyote stood up and hung the backpack on a smaller branch above their heads.

"So this is what you consider your personal paradise to be, huh?" Marcus asked.

"Sort of. It looks a little different in my dreams, but this is still pretty close."

Marcus smiled at her just as the sun set behind the horizon and the moon began to rise. He moved over to her and placed his fingertips on the sides of her head.

"Then let's see what your perfect world looks like together. I'm ready when you are."

"You mean it?!"

"I swear. Close your eyes."

She obeyed.

"Now forget what you've seen before you. Show me what you feel."

Coyote drew her perfect world up from inside her mind. A place she had seen in her dreams since she was a little girl. A place where pain and suffering didn't exist. A place where she could share all of its wonders with the boy she loved the most.

"I feel it."

Marcus nodded and closed his own eyes. He pressed his fingertips more firmly against Coyote's cheeks, trying his best to link the two of their minds together. He reached out and felt what she felt. He felt her happiness, her determination, and her love.

"Okay. Ready?"  
"Ready."

They counted down together.

"Three…two…one."

They opened their eyes, and before them lay the same valley as before, but illuminated in a moon that was so close that half of it was hidden behind the horizon. The leaves below were glowing a vibrant violet colour, and while there was a large pool far below them, it was now crystalline blue and had a magnificent waterfall crashing down into it. Not to mention that every star, planet, and nebula could be accounted for in the sky.

"Oh my God…" Coyote said, with Marcus noticing a happy tear slip out of her eye. "It's everything that I dreamed it would be."

Coyote stood up, and as she did, several small dots of neon blue light which she was sure were some sort of insect drifted down and settled on her fur. She smiled and spread out her arms, along more of them to rush towards her. By the time the last one had landed, Coyote was glowing bright blue.

"This is wonderful…" she said happily before turning to her date. "You're the best, mark. You really are."

"I try."

The glowing insects gently flew away as Coyote looked over the edge of the massive branch they stood on.

"That pool's a long ways away." she commented.

"Stating the obvious a little, but yes." Marcus replied as he looked over the edge as well.

Then it happened: Coyote began stripping her clothes off right before Marcus' eyes.

"Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?!" he sputtered.

"What? I can't go swimming in my clothes."

She stuck her clothes in the backpack once she had finished and stood there in the same leather bikini that Marcus had seen her wearing on Sauria three years ago. He surprised that she still fit in it since she'd grown considerably since then in more ways than one (YES! I SAID IT!)

"So what do you think? Am I still sexy in a bathing suit?"

"Uhh…."

Coyote laughed.

"No need to answer. Now you get to it, too."

"But I'm not wearing a suit."

"Doesn't matter. Just take your shirt off and you're fine."

"I really don't know about…"

"Do it before I start tickling you."

"Okay, okay."

Marcus slipped off his jacket, then his T-shirt, then finally his muscle shirt and exposed his bare chest to her. He wasn't comfortable with taking his shirt off in front of anyone, even though he didn't look like "two hundred pounds of bird shit" as a certain someone would say. Quite the opposite, actually. He was a hundred and forty pounds of muscular youth.

"Okay. On three." Coyote said, stepping straight up to the edge of the branch.

"On three what?"

"We dive. What else?"  
"Are you serious?! It's sounding like you WANT to get the two of us killed!"  
"Don't be such a worry wart. Even humans can survive dives from higher than this if they go in properly. Besides, that lake is forty feet deep from where we're going in. We'll be fine."

Marcus was still unsure. Coyote smirked and rolled her eyes.

"Here, I'll go first."

Without warning, she performed a graceful swan dive off the branch, sailing down through the air until she slipped into the water with barely a splash. Judging from how smoothly she had entered, Marcus was unsure that he had even seen this properly. However, she poked her head out of the water not five seconds later laughing and beckoning for him to follow suit.

"Son of a gun…well, here goes nothin'."

Marcus sucked in a breath, feeling his heart rate kick into overdrive. Before he knew it, he was falling head-first towards the lake and bracing himself for any terrible impact. Right as he was slipping into the cool blue water, he had unfortunately moved his leg which slapped heavily against the surface, sending an unbelievable amount of pain through his body. He thrashed about underneath the water for a moment before resurfacing and shouting obscenities at the top of his lungs.

"SON OF A SHIT-SUCKING CUNT-FUCKER, THAT HURTS LIKE A FUCK!"

"Easy there, tiger. It'll wear off."

Marcus clutched at his legs and floated on his side for a little while longer before finally getting upright and swimming closer to Coyote.

"Happy now?"

"Yes. C'mon."

She dove under the water, and Marcus groaned out of pain for a brief moment before sucking in a breath and following her. Now the memories of Sauria from three years ago were greater expressed than ever. The water was so well lit from the strange plants growing from the tree that seeing Coyote was no problem as she led the two of the them through a small crack in the roots. Upon surfacing again, the two were in a wooden chamber of the tree where the light of the moon and stars above could shine down on them.

"So this is the world you live in." Marcus said in content. "It's so beautiful."

"It's only better with you."

"...okay, enough delaying the inevitable. I've got something for you."

He reached into his pocket and dug out the lovely necklace. Coyote covered her mouth in surprise upon seeing it.

"You got that for me?!"

"I figured it could be a memento symbolizing our time together so far."

"Oh my God…I love you so much."

She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tightly. Marcus smiled and returned the embrace, feeling every single bit of her love. Right before the embrace broke, he gently strung the jewelry around her slender neck and secured it. It hung onto her and radiated off her white fur in the moonlight almost angelically. She was an angel to him…at least save for the spot of red just under the necklace? Coyote noticed this nearly immediately.

"Mark, are you bleeding?"

"Huh?"

He checked all over himself, looking for any trace of a cut or bruise. While normally he would consider it suspicious that there was blood on his girlfriend's present after what had happened at the airway, he found a single cut just along his middle finger.

"Huh. How 'bout that? Well, whatever. So how do you like it?"

"I…I love it. There's really nothing else I can say to describe it."

"And to think this is only the beginning. From here, it can only get better."

Coyote grabbed the sides of his head and pulled him into a passionate kiss. The fire in heart accelerated to a blaze just like it had several dozen times before. Before Marcus knew it, she had him lying on the ground with her body pressed against him. He stopped her just as he was sure she was reaching for the strap along her shoulders.

"Hold on there, kid." he laughed. "We're not married here."

"I know, but….I just figured that I could give you a little reward for going out of your way to make me happy tonight."

"Seeing you happy was the reward. It always is."

Coyote could feel tears streaming out of her eyes yet again, this time causing her to start sniffling.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Marcus asked.

"Nothing…you're just the best."

He smiled.

"I try my best." he replied as they embraced. "Only because I love you."

They kissed once more, making the perfect moment even better if that was possible. Her scent, her embrace, her warmth, her love…that was all Marcus needed, and it was all he wanted. This moment was perfect. This date was perfect.

Coyote was perfect.

**A few hours later…**

Marcus sat in the large windowsill of his room, smiling out at the sky high above. Coyote was probably drifting off to sleep right about now, and as he pictured the young beauty slowly closing her eyes and drifting off into the confines of her dreams, he couldn't help but smile even more.

"Goddamn…I guess I'm just a real sucker for that girl, huh?"

There was no doubt about it. As he got up off the windowsill and climbed into bed, his thoughts were only of her. Just like he had said, this was only the beginning. From here, it could only get better.

"No questioning it." he thought happily. "One of these days…I'm gonna marry her."

Cute, but this scene is about to catch a serious case of mood whiplash, because back on Fortuna, Coyote had just gotten into bed. Her eyes stirred open for a brief moment when she thought she heard a noise, and she nearly screamed when she spotted a figure standing in the moonlight. She couldn't see its face, but right before she blinked and saw it was no longer there, she heard three words that she wanted her following action to greatly contradict.

"Go to sleep."

_Yeah, I know who Jeff the Killer is, (rather unfortunately) and here we all thought Slender Man was scary._

_But anyways...D'AAAAAWWWW! =D Isn't that cute?! Just be careful, though: mood whiplash plays an important role in this story, and you can probably figure out what that means. Just a quick reminder that once Chapter Seven is up, the story's going on hold until I've finished my Darkstalkers story (or at least get a few good chapters down for it). Don't worry: I'll be working on this story behind the scenes. In fact, I've already finished a much later chapter in it. Until that fateful day, I'll see you guys on the next Angry Joe show...wait, what?_

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare- "_Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- _"Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space Pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley-_ Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of Truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess


	8. 7: Host

CHAPTER SEVEN

**Host**

**Later that night…**

Coyote only had nightmares every once in a while, and usually it was of something she had seen on TV. Nothing too scary, and she admittedly liked having sappy kinds of dreams, preferably those about Marcus (not like we could expect anything less from her). Never, however, had she ever had what was called a night terror.

For those of you not sure of what that is, I'll explain it, as well as the differences between the two. A nightmare causes all sorts of negative emotions, whether it be anxiety, sadness, or the most common of all being fear. Usually you'll just crack your eyes open once it's over and go back to sleep after you've had a minute to calm yourself down. A night terror on the other hand, also called sleep terror or pavor nocturnus in Latin, is a vision that causes pure dread, and you're very likely to wake up screaming and sweating bullets once it's over, clearly indicating that you've come close to having a panic attack. Night terrors don't tend to happen after the first three to four hours of sleep, but the most notable thing is that you'll usually forget about them once you get up for the day.

But if there's one thing that the people of the Lylat System always remembered, it was Kursed, and she had no intention of letting the terror she spread die down. Coyote had been unfortunate to watch a TV series called _Twin Peaks _when she was younger. It was a very old show, but a very good one. The downside was that it was probably one of the most graphic and terrifying shows that she had ever seen to this day, and it didn't even need to become a pure gorefest like the shows of Adult Swim.

It seemed Kursed was taking advantage of this as the poor wolf girl slept peacefully now, happy with the day that had come and gone and not even coming close to expecting what was about to happen.

**Dreaming…**

Coyote was alone at first, walking across a well-lit plain of grass. The sun was shining overhead, the wind was blowing calmly in her fur, and there wasn't any sort of noise to break the peace.

And that was what unnerved her.

As quickly as the sun had risen, it set and cast a dark violet shadow over the plain, and numerous tombstones began slowly rising up out of the grass. The grass itself shrank back into the ground, leaving the entire plain as a now barren wasteland. The wind was gone, and now she could heard loud booming every other second as though she had been sucked into the _Slender _game.

"In that case, it better be $20 Mode, 'cause I'm sure up for a good laugh."

She continued to walk through the field regardless of the ridiculous changes that had just occurred. She walked alone, not having an idea what was going on, and all the while she felt something wasn't right. Admittedly she was half-hoping to hear "Gimme 20 dollas, no wifin' in the club!" though she knew perfectly well that wasn't going to happen. Nothing, however, could prepare her for what was going to happen. Kursed had found her, and she was going to squeeze every last drop out of the suspense Coyote had built up prior to this meeting.

After what seemed like an hour's worth of just mentally preparing herself for the worst, what Coyote got wasn't laughs but chills when she heard a slithery voice come from nowhere.

"Coyote Lorraine O'Donnell…I'm so happy that I finally get to meet you, dear."

"…it's you."

"Yeah, it's me. Were you expecting your boyfriend?"

"Anyone but you."

"You seem like a strong young girl. Why don't you have a little fun with these little friends of mine? I'd like to see just what you're capable of."

Coyote scowled as numerous shadows crept along the ground, slowly moving towards her until standing up as beings similar to the one that had gotten loose in the Shack.

"Well, on the plus side it's a dream, so I can do whatever the hell I want…and that means…"

She swung her arm, shaping the air around into a blade that she smirked at once she saw how it was designed.

"And this is how you know you're a fan of _Zelda_: when you have your friend make you a Hookshot and you dream of using the Master Sword."

The first monster to make the stupid mistake of coming closer was the first to be decapitated, followed up by a stab under Coyote's arm to impale another. Letting out a loud and Link-like battle cry, she jumped high in the air and sliced a third in half and used a spin attack to do the same to a fourth and fifth.

Up came a hand from the shadows beneath her feet and off went the hand form its arm as she slashed its wrist. In another brutal act, she threw the sword in front of her to impale another monster before rushing forward, pulling the blade out and slashing behind her to slice the next one in two. A blade sprouted from the wrist of one and Coyote was forced to lock with it and push hard against it to keep from losing her balance. Once she had gained the upper hand, the creature stumbled backwards and she impaled it through the stomach, vaulting over the one rushing up behind her and slashing its head off.

"Hey, freak shows! You're making it less of a nightmare and more of an adrenaline rush…thank God that can count, otherwise I think I would have said 'wet dream' and…that's just no fun for anybody."

No…no, it isn't.

Right as she looked over her shoulder, she saw a group of the creatures gathering around her and looking ready to pounce. She smirked and bent her knees. Right as the creatures came close enough, she let loose with a massive spin attack, zooming all over the plain like a tornado until each and every one of the monsters was dead on the ground…right as she saw more coming towards her.

"You gotta be kidding…"

"Alright, boys. That's enough. It's Mama's turn now."

Just like that, the monsters disappeared. Coyote stood panting for a brief moment before noticing her shadow illuminated by the now exposed moon. It wasn't shaped properly, and she looked on, it slowly began to extend and writhe about until it disappeared altogether.

"You know, Coyote, I heard that you used to look up to me back in the day. I felt pretty good that I was someone's role model."

"That was before I found out that you weren't worth a buck to your name."

"Or is it because you were just sucking up to Marcus?"

"Shut up! What do YOU know?"

"Everything. I see everything. I feel everything."

"You're about to feel my fist right in your face. Get out here and fight!"

"What do you mean? I AM out here."

"What are you talking about?"

Then the voice was right by her ear as she felt the foul breath blow through her fur.

"Behind you."

Coyote yelped and turned around, half-expecting to find either nothing or Kursed pouncing on her, but no. She just stood there leering down at her with that sickening smile still stretched across her face. Coyote had never really been afraid of any living being, but the blood red eyes peering into her own made her feel more frightened than she had ever been in her life.

"You're such a pretty young girl. I can see why Marcus has taken a fancy to you….do I scare you?"

"…yes."

"Not nearly enough as I scare Marcus, I'd say."

Kursed gently stepped forward and draped a hand across Coyote's cheek.

"Mmm…feels good. Let me ask you, Coyote: what frightens you the most?"

"I…I'm not telling you that."

"Oh? Why not? I thought we could be friends."

"With you? Never."

"What's wrong? Have I really done anything that bad by your standards?"

"You skinned somebody alive! Even Leon wouldn't do that!"

"Wouldn't he? You don't know him. When the chips are down, even the most civilized person in the universe is willing to eat somebody to stay alive. Everyone has their repressed feral instincts. It's just a matter of how much they can take before letting them out."

She gently exhaled into Coyote's ear before gently wrapping an arm around her torso. For whatever reason, the young O'Donnell did nothing to break away. She was too frightened that the person she had once idolized was right there and touching her intimately. Upon Kursed touching something that would have been preferred not to have been grazed, Coyote yelped and pushed her away. She simply giggled.

"Aw, what's wrong? Am I invading your personal space?"

"Shut up…just shut up. I'm gonna do something I bet Krystal wished she had done a long time ago."

Coyote readied the blade she held and awaited Kursed's next move. Kursed herself narrowed her eyes and frowned.

"You were better off not mentioning that traitor. Besides, who's to say I can't already see what you're afraid of? And…oh, what's this? You're a fan of _Twin Peaks_, eh? I enjoy that show myself. I think Killer BOB is quite the charmer."

The smile returned to Kursed's face and she lowered her head, evilly smirking up at Coyote.

"In that case, come, my dear…fire walk with me."

Kursed raised her hand and clenched it, forcing fire out of her palm that landed on the field and formed a large circle around the two of them. Coyote gritted her teeth as the sky went from a lovely moonlit hue to a dark violet colour, and before she could do anything about, the Master Sword was suddenly pulled from her by an invisible force and landed in Kursed's hand. Kursed then smirked at the sword for a brief second before snapping it in half over her knee and then dropping both pieces into her mouth one at a time.

"Tasty. I wonder how tasty you are."

Just as Coyote was about to rush forward with a fist raised, chains fell from Kursed's wrists and they proceeded to wrap themselves around Coyote's body, intent on taking in every bit of her skin as they could. One even reached up towards her neck and gently wrapped itself around it. Coyote rasped for breath, and as she fell to the floor, Kursed giggled and held one of the chains in her hand like a leash.

"Good girl."

"Stop…please…you're cutting off my circulation."

"That's the whole idea, sweetie. I like to see you squirm around like this. It makes me happy...and even a little horny if you don't mind me saying it."

"You sadistic piece of GAH!"

She had no time to finish the sentence before the chains tightened.

"Mmm…your fear smells so wonderful.

She smiled at Coyote once more before whispering out her next line.

"Brush your teeth, Coyote dear. It's time to go to sleep."

At first, Coyote had no idea what happened next. All the light had been sucked away and she was still lying on the floor. The chains appeared to have gone, but that didn't bring her any relief because of what she heard: silence. Dead silence. Even worse was that for some odd reason, she slowly finding it harder and harder to breathe.

And then she moved. Her arm bumped against something wooden, and went she attempted to sit up to rub the bruise, her forehead bumped against another wooden object, as did her knees when she moved them as well. Hoping it wasn't true, she slammed her hands forward. All that happened was she heard a hollow echo as her hands slapped against hard wood.

"No…no no no NO!"

Kursed hadn't been lying. She had known what her fear was. Coyote's one fear was of being buried alive, and here she was, locked in a coffin and thrashing bout to get out. The darkness, the lack of oxygen, the sounds of the echoing wood…it was torture…enough to make her scream.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!" she cried, tear-stricken.

Right as she cried out, the soulless red eyes shined in front of her. She felt the weight of Kursed's body press down on her, and even worse, she felt none of the leather that Kursed had donned before. There was nothing there, and she felt this as Kursed began to fiddle with Coyote's own clothing.

"What is there to help, dear?" she giggled. "You can't be saved now."

The horrible sensual feeling began between Coyote's legs and worked their way up until she had no choice but to scream for futile mercy yet again.

**One horrific night terror later…**

The sound of the sliding glass door opening on the first floor caused Marcus' one ear to twitch and thus woke him up. It wasn't like him to suddenly wake up this late at night and he half-expected to turn over and find someone staring at him, but as he listened closer, he could hear the door close again and a few footsteps down below from the kitchen.

"Must be just Dad." he muttered, semi-convincing himself. "Always needs to get up late at night for a quick glass of water…"

Then he thought back at what had happened that day and his eyes snapped open before he furrowed his brow.

"But I'm not taking any chances."

He got up out of the bed, grabbed his staff from under his pillow and wrenched open his dresser drawer to pull out and load up a pistol he kept in his room just in case, as well as putting on a silencer. He tiptoed down the stairs toward the kitchen with the gun in one hand and the staff in the other, making use of any of the stealth skills he had to try and not alert whoever was in the house to his presence. He slowly edged towards the kitchen and pressed himself against the wall before looking inside. He could see a shadow leaning over the sink, and although he couldn't quite make out who it was, he knew that it definitely wasn't Fox or Krystal.

"Ah, thought you could try and sneak up on me in my own home, eh?" he thought sourly.

He looked away for a brief moment before sucking in a breath and vaulting himself into the kitchen with the gun aimed.

"FREEZE, BITCH!"

"DON'T SHOOT, MARK! IT'S ME!"

"What the…Coyote?!"

The young O'Donnell was indeed on the ground and cowering to see that her own boyfriend was pointing a gun at her, and Marcus himself dropped the gun almost instantly.

"What are you doing here? It's one-thirty in the morning! What are you, crazy?"

Before he could finish his sentence, he saw that Coyote's clothes were torn and there were nasty bruises all over her body, especially on her neck.

"Oh my God…what happened to you?" Marcus stammered as he knelt down next to her and gently felt at each wound. She didn't wince at his touch (if anything, she was comforted by it), yet she couldn't help but whimper out her response.

"It…it was her…she came for me."

"What?!"

A footstep behind them alerted them almost instantly before they both furrowed their brows and looked back toward the door.

"Scott!"

The younger O'Donnell shrugged.

"Force of habit."

As soon as they had heard Marcus yell, Fox and Krystal had woken up and come downstairs to see what the matter was. As soon as Krystal saw Coyote's bruises, she gently placed one hand on the wolf girl's wrist and another on her head.

"What did she do to you?" Marcus asked.

"It was horrible…she said so many strange things…it made me feel like everything good that happened to me didn't matter anymore…and then she…oh God."

"What?"

"Mark…she…she raped me!"

Everyone was speechless for a brief moment before Scott spoke up.

"What's that?"

"Sport, you don't wanna know. Let's just leave it at that." Fox replied.

Coyote continued to whimper.

"It was horrible…I only felt pleasure for about a nanosecond and then it burned…it burned like my whole body was on fire. It felt like I was going to die right there staring up at her face…"

She burst into sobs again and clung to Marcus. Krystal finished her analysis (or whatever it was she was doing), and the look on her face was not pleasing in the slightest.

"I'm not sure what she's done to you, dear, but one thing is for certain: it's not the same Coyote O'Donnell in there."

"Wha…what does that mean?"

"I wish I knew, but I doubt it's a sexually transmitted disease…well, given how much of a Sodomite she is, I wouldn't be too surprised. Have you been in contact with any foreign fluids?"

"Well…Mark gave me a necklace on our date and I found some blood on it, but I don't know if…"

"That explains it, then. If you touch any part of Kursed, whether it's her blood, her hair, or her body, she can find you."

Marcus grimaced.

"Damn…I knew she got in the _Great Fox_. This is all my fault. I just wanted to give her a present and I ended up scarring her for life thanks to that no-good-dirty-rotten monster of a surrogate mother."

Scott began tugging at Marcus' tail to get his attention. Upon giving it, Marcus could see that there was a worried look in Scott's eyes.

"Mark, is Coyote gonna be okay?"

That was probably the last thing he had wanted to be asked, because he had no idea what the right answer was. There was sure to be some sort of consequence for Kursed just showing up out of the blue in Coyote's dreams. Firstly, he was guilty that this had happened because of him, and second, he feared what would happen to Coyote if what Krystal had said was true.

Nevertheless, he smiled and got down on one knee to lay a hand on Scott's shoulder.

"She'll be just fine, Scott. I swear on my life that Coyote's gonna get through this."

That was what he said, yet deep in his mind all he could do was think about how much worse this could get. Yet never could he imagine what would be soon to come. As Kursed looked through the window and smiled at the damage she had done, she knew that from then on, this fight was hers.

"Hope you enjoyed the appetizer, Coyote. The main course is still to come."

_...well, that ain't good. Especially considering this story's going on hold until I've wrapped up the Darkstalkers story (Please don't pressure to me to start pushing out new chapters for this yet. I'm not abandoning it until it's done, so no worries.)_

_In case I don't publish anything from here until the end of the month, I'll give my wishes now. __Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Ramadan, Happy...well, everybody! Happy Holidays, and if "Happy Holidays" is too corporate, then Happy Shut the Fuck Up. (If you get that reference, kudos to you. Here's a hint: He's the angriest gamer you've ever heard.)_

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare- _"Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "_Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

_Coyote versus the shadows- _"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson


	9. 8: The Center of It All

CHAPTER EIGHT

**The Center of It All**

**The next morning…**

**The Shack**

"I don't really understand how, but it looks like whatever happened last night has mutated your blood stream." Chase concluded. "More specifically, it's enhanced it."

Running numerous clinical tests on Coyote hadn't proved useless upon informing the rest of the team of what had happened the following day. The images of numerous strange microorganisms swimming around in Coyote's blood had severely shocked Marcus when he first saw it, but Chase steadily explained it to help make it better…at least, he thought that would be its effect.

"How exactly does getting raped ENHANCE my blood stream?" Coyote said, very nearly shouting.

"I've got no clue, but it seems that it's made your blood vessels tougher. This basically means that you'll bleed less and maybe even have better resistance to extreme cold."

"But…she raped me! She raped me, and it actually helped me! How in God's endless universe does that work?!"

"I don't know, but hey! If it gave you enhancements, I say use them. By the looks of it, they're going to get more plentiful."

Marcus' ears pricked up the second he heard those words and bit his lip so hard he had to force himself not to draw blood. He stepped forward and looked Chase dead in the eye before speaking.

"Start working on an antidote."

"Huh?"

"Get rid of it."

"But she could become super-Lylatian!"  
"No, she could become dead. If Kursed gives you anything, you need to get rid of it whether it's good or bad at first. Start working on an antidote."

Chase sighed.

"Alright. Your loss. In any case, we've got some more pressing matters to talk about."

Anna and Damalgo fiddled around with a few keyboards on either side of the room before a hologram of the entire Lylat System popped up.

"We've managed to confirm exactly what these beacons we've collected are." Anna started. "Like we've known already, they call these creatures from somewhere. We're still not sure where, but Chase…he found out something about these things that's going to surprise probably everyone in this room."

"At this point, nothing should surprise us." Peter sighed.

Chase came forward and fiddled with another keyboard to bring up a hologram of one of the strange creatures they had seen at Sector Y, as well as one of the Space Pirates they had fought a few days ago.

"I ran a test on both of these creatures," he started. "And I've managed to confirm that they both have a very similar genetic code. Normally this would be completely impossible since…well, it would be pretty obvious why it wouldn't be possible. But I decided to search through some old biological tests, and I didn't believe it myself until I checked out what happened to the rest of the units after we took down the bosses, which would be the mech and Ridley. Did any of you notice that they all just shrivelled up and died right after the bosses were taken down?"

"I don't know." Marcus replied cynically. "Was I trying to shake of the shock of riding on a giant space dragon's back and saving Samus from nearly getting killed thanks to my evil surrogate mother?"

"Well, I noticed. This symptom called apoptosis seemed really familiar, and that was when I confirmed what the tests had presented."

Chase sucked in a breath.

"I can't believe it's true, but…these things are Aparoids!"

"Wha…I thought that…Goddamn, doesn't anybody know how to stay dead anymore?! I'm surprised there hasn't been a zombie apocalypse yet!"

I can think of a few people who would be pretty eager for something like that to happen thanks to the pure adrenaline and excitement from it…at the cost of losing the ones they love…life sucks sometimes.

"I'm still researching this so even I have no idea how it's possible," Chase continued. "But…I guess there's no denying the truth."

"Not to mention," Anna spoke up. "Sector Y and Corneria were just the beginning. It seems there's still three more beacons out there. If we let any of them get out of control, these Aparoids are gonna spread all over the galaxy like a fuckin' plague."

The hologram reverted to the map of the Lylat System. Two markers were on Sector Y and Corneria.

"The beacon path seems to be moving in a hook-like pattern. If we were to put this as a 2-D map, it's curving out to the northwest. The third beacon seems to be abiding by the pattern set out by the other two because it stops right here. Right in the middle of the System."

A third marker appeared exactly where Anna had pointed. It lay in the center of the Lylat System on a blue star.

"The third beacon is somewhere near Lylat itself."

"And that's our problem." Damalgo sighed. "I'm sure you all remember how hot Solar was when you guys visited it three years ago. Solar itself is a Class M red giant, so while it may be larger than Lylat, it's nowhere near as hot. Class M stars are usually between 2,600 and 3,800 degrees Kelvin."

Don't even bother trying to translate that into Celsius or Fahrenheit. Lord knows I can't.

"The main problem is this: Lylat is a Class O star, therefore averaging at a temperature of 33,000 degrees Kelvin on the surface alone. We'd be burning alive before we even made it to a mile above the surface."

Everyone turned to Chase, to which he responded by raising an eyebrow.

"What?"

"This would be the part where you interject and say 'You guys really don't know the extent of my genius' or 'Hey, guys. Let me save your stupid asses'. Y'know, get all smug on us." said Peter.

"Yeah, real cute, Petey."

"Can you come up with a way for us to survive on Lylat or can you not?" asked Marcus.

Chase bit his lip, causing Marcus to worry even more. If it was a technical thing and Chase was getting nervous, then you were in trouble. You were in BIG trouble.

"Well, I do have something in the works. It's sort of like that Thermal Suit thing that we used on Solar a couple years back, except it covers the whole body and cools it with every step…" he started.

"Perfect. We'll put those on and head over right away." Marcus said.

"Whoa, hang on! I'm not done! The problem is that it's still in the prototype stages so the effects are just theoretical. It SHOULD work, but if my guess is correct…and it probably is, it'll only work for an hour or two."

"We don't have any other choice. Let's get to the airway, team. We're heading for the center of the galaxy."

**Later…**

"Are you sure about this, Chase?" Marcus asked. "These suits are really clunky."

"They're the best option we have. It'll take me at least two days to upgrade them and these things could be at Fichina by then."

"But are you sure this'll work?"

"I copied off the same material as Samus' Varia Suit…except I'm not a Chozo, so it's far from perfect."

Marcus, Coyote, Anna, and Peter were suited up in their own sets of Thermal Armour, each looking significantly different so they could tell each other apart. Marcus looked almost like Iron Man, Coyote slightly resembled a Terminator, Anna had a Tron-like suit, and Peter had the same helmet as a character that would result in Nintendo having lawsuits up the ass if it was ever in one of their games. All four of them were flying their ships down towards the insanely bright star.

"Goddamn, it's so beautiful…" Anna said.

"Beautiful and deadly…hey, what's that?" said Peter.

It seemed that there were several metallic catwalks crisscrossing high above the surface of the star. They seemed to be far enough that they would at least be able to see where they were going, but would still trigger the effects Chase had mentioned.

"We've found a landing area." Marcus announced.

"Okay. I'm sending you guys a timer. If Anne's right, the beacon can't be too far from where your landing. You've got two hours before you need to make your way back to the warp point, otherwise your ass is fried."

"Quite. We're going in."

Upon reaching the set point, the four ejected from the ships that began auto-piloting back to the _Great Fox. _They landed flawlessly on the catwalk and gazed at their surroundings. Thanks to the intense light-blue light coming up from far below them, their vision of any stars, planets and the like was completely hindered. The metallic catwalks seemed to stretch on for miles without end, and most importantly, it was boiling hot. Even with the heavy suits of armour on, all four of them could feel the heat seeping in and making them sweat.

"Jesus, I can barely breathe in this thing." Anna groaned.

"Try not to dwell on it." Peter said. "It'll only make it worse."

"Too late."

"Alright, guys." Damalgo announced over their communicators. "I can't quite get a good readout of the entire catwalk network but I may have found a good path that should take you straight to the beacon. It should be coming up on your visors right about…now."

The pathway appeared on their visors, as well as the timer Chase had mentioned. It had begun counting down from two hours, and thus the four began marching down the catwalk, listening intently for any sound. They heard none for the first few minutes of walking, and that only made the tension more aggravating. What was also aggravating to Marcus was the thought of his girlfriend being…VIOLATED by his surrogate mother. He didn't care that Coyote was all right. He wanted to find Kursed, grab her neck and wring it until she stopped breathing.

He made sure that Peter and Anna had gone ahead enough that they couldn't hear him, and then turned to Coyote.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Mark, I'm fine. Really. You don't need to worry about me."

"You wanna know when I start to worry about people the most? When they tell me not to worry."

"But you…"

"But nothing. It's my fault that what happened last night was even possible, and…"

"Mark. You're making it all about you again."

Marcus sighed.

"I'm sorry. It's just that you're taking the fall for something that should only involve me."

"I understand, but look at me. Do I look any different? Do I sound any different? …and more importantly…"

She suddenly embraced him, startling yet comforting him at the same time.

"Do I feel any different?"

"No."

"Then there's nothing to worry about, okay?"

"Oi! What the hell are you two doing over there?" Peter called.

"Hang on, we're coming." Marcus yelled.

"I'll bet you are, mate."

"Wha…oh, for the love of…"

They continued on, and right as Marcus and Coyote caught up to the other two, the tingling sensation in the back of his head kicked into high gear. The problem was that he couldn't see the source of it through the ultraviolet haze.

"Guns ready, guys. Something's out there."

All four of them readied their assault rifles and the staff in Marcus' case and stood in a diamond formation with each person facing in one of four directions. All four of them were gritting their teeth and preparing for the worst, and when the worst didn't seem to come, it only made them more alert. None of them dared to turn away in case an Aparoid would suddenly pop up from under the catwalk and throw them off. The tension began building so heavily that they could hear each other panting from pure anxiousness.

Then an odd feeling came over Marcus: the tingle left his system for a brief moment before returning stronger than before, indicating that the danger was directly behind him. There was no way that could be right, however, because Peter was right behind him.

At that moment, Peter shook his head as if coming out of a dazed state.

"Wha…what are we doing here?" he asked almost mindlessly.

"We're finding the third beacon. What, do you have Alzheimer's or something?" asked Coyote.

"The third beacon…what for?"

"To take down the Aparoids."  
"What for?"

"To stop Kursed from taking over the system!"

Peter lowered his gun and turned to them.

"But…why would we want to stop Kursed?"

"Because she's an evil bitch that deserves to die for all she's done." Anna replied impatiently.

"She's not evil. She just goes a little mad sometimes…we all go a little mad sometimes. In fact, if I didn't know any better…I'd say you're the bitch."

"Hey! Are you trying to get smart with me?!"

"Anne, stop it! I think I know what's going on." Marcus said before holding his hand up to Peter's face. "Pete, how many fingers am I holding up?"

"Repw iae, iae xyhhxu cfypw."

"Well, that explains it." Coyote muttered before turning on her comm. "Chase, we're bringing Pete back to the pickup point. It looks like he's suffering from heat stroke judging from how he's speaking gibberish."

Marcus looked at her.

"It's not gibberish. It's Cerinian."

"If that's the case, then what did he say?" asked Anna.

"He said 'Fuck you, you little prick.'"

"And thus proving Coyote's point that he's suffering from heat stroke. If he wasn't confused, then he wouldn't be mouthing off to us like this."

"It's not heat stroke. We haven't even been on the planet for twenty minutes. Besides, look through his visor. You can see him sweating."

"So what is this?"

Marcus clenched his teeth and fists.

"It's Kursed. She's driven him to delirium…thus meaning I still agree with getting him back to the pickup point. We need to get him medicated before he does something he'll regret."

Marcus grabbed Peter's arm and prepared to lead him back to the pickup point when he suddenly found himself on his back with a rifle barrel against his skull. Peter was staring at him with a demented look.

"She wants you…why does she want you…"

Anna and Coyote had their guns trained on Peter in almost an instant, neither knowing if they had the guts to gun down their dear friend, but by the looks of it, they had to do something now before he killed Marcus.

Luckily, they didn't have to do a thing, because Marcus brought his knee up into Peter's groin and kicked him backwards. Peter struggled to get back to his feet and started firing madly at his comrades. Marcus responded to this by stepping forward and extending his hand, slowing the bullets to a stop before crushing them by clenching his fist.

"That's enough, Pete." Marcus said in an extremely low tone. "Drop the gun."

"She wants me to do this…she wants me to…"

Marcus tilted his head downwards and furrowed his brow. His eyes began to glow bright violet and when he spoke again, his lips didn't move and his voice seemed to boom throughout the atmosphere.

"Drop. The Damn. Gun."

Peter's demented expression seemed to falter for a moment as his gun trained downward. Merely seconds later, however, he clenched his teeth and raised the gun again.

"Forgetting that I'm just a tad bit tougher than you, Marky?" asked the disembodied voice of Kursed. "Guess I'm a better leader, too."

"You sadistic piece of trash…you nearly get Samus and Falcon killed, you attack Coyote in her sleep, and now you're mind-controlling Peter? Is there no end to how over-the-top you can get?"

"To put it simply, no. It's only just started. Have fun watching your friends burn to death."

Right as she said that, several humanoid-sized Aparoids appeared behind Anna and Coyote, who promptly turned and began firing on them.

"Well, ain't this an inconvenient turn of events." Coyote grumbled.

As Anna and Coyote fended off the approaching Aparoids, Marcus focused his attention on Peter, who began stepping towards him. Faster than his friend could react, Marcus grabbed the gun's magazine and pulled it out before knocking the gun back against Peter's head. He stumbled for one moment before rushing forward and grappling Marcus.

"Pete, listen to me!" Marcus yelled, blocking Peter's attempts to hit his head. "She's using you against your will! You have to resist her!"

"No…why do I have to resist? She…she's here for me…"

"No, she's here to kill you and me!"

"Just you…she wants me to…to get rid of you…go to Hell."

"Alright, that's enough."

Marcus whipped out his staff and used it to block Peter's next attack, resulting in the latter reeling back in pain. Once Marcus had gotten to his feet, he utilized an ability he had managed to develop: he placed one end against Peter's chest, causing several coils of aura to shoot out of it and bind his corrupted friend.

"I'm not gonna fight you, Pete." Marcus said in the sincerest tone he could muster. "I don't care how much you want to do this. It's not happening."

Marcus turned on his communicator before grabbing a gun to assist Anna and Coyote.

"Chase, auto-lock on Peter and beam him back to the _Great Fox_. He's suffering from delirium and needs immediate rehabilitation."

"On it. Activating emergency repo. ETA is five minutes. Make sure he doesn't get loose 'til we get there."

Marcus dashed at the closest Aparoid and impaled it with his staff before flipping over it and launching it into the azure plasma far below. He followed it up with a clean shot to the next one's chest and back kick to the third one trying to sneak up behind him. Coyote and Anna teamed up on one of them, rushing forward with the arms stretched out to knock it over before Coyote backflipped, activating her Repulsor Gauntlets and sinking the claws into the Aparoid's chest.

"How are these things not burning up?! I'm sensing a little bias from a fourth-dimensional figure here!" she growled.

"You see how their skin is black? They must have somehow evolved so they can adapt to this environment."

"Wait…this things can evolve?! What are they, Pokémon?!"

"Beats me, but I've gotta say it's impressive. I don't think even humans can adjust to their surroundings this quickly."

"Oh, great, you're envious of them. Now I guess you wanna be one, or here's an idea! Why don't you have sex with one, huh?! I bet it'll feel really nice in its..."

"Jesus, O'Donnell, what's gotten into you?!"

Coyote herself wasn't aware that she had been shouting at the top of her lungs until Chase had pointed it out. She couldn't explain it, but she had suddenly become so angry that she could have torn someone's spine out. It felt like her heart had suddenly started beating irregularly fast and that she could feel her veins bulging out of her skin, and now that she had realized what had happened, they were receding.

"Good God...what's happening to me?"

Anna dodged the slashes of the closest Aparoid to her before reeling back.

"Spread 'em!" she mocked before dropping down and punching the creature in the groin.

Much to her surprise, this actually worked. The Aparoid's legs crumpled, and Anna proceeded to put the rest of her epic killing of it into motion.

"Mark! Offensive maneuver 3!"

Anna jumped up with her elbow raised and slammed it down on the Aparoid's exposed neck. This sent it crashing to the ground where Marcus slid under it and impaled it on the spear end of his staff.

"That'll teach him."

"Mark, please say it."

"Huh?"

"You know…it."

"I-T. It."

"No, I mean the thing you promised you would say the next time we killed a baddie together."

Marcus rolled his eyes.

"Okay, fine."

He stood upright with a suave expression.

"'Ellos, Annie." he said in a fake French accent.

You know the author is part of the Bro Army when…

"Let's hurry up and find that beacon guys." Coyote instructed "We don't have much time left."

She wasn't lying. Marcus could feel the beads of sweat on his forehead begin to grow even more intense, and he was beginning to feel heat exhaustion as he started to pant heavily.

"Okay, everybody, let's head for the…what?"

As Marcus looked at his radar to check to the position of the beacon, he could see that it was quickly coming towards them.

"Uh…maybe a bit of a stretch but HIT THE DECK!"

Marcus, Anna and Coyote dropped just as something massive jumped over them and landed on all fours. As they stood, the creature roared at them.

"Speaking of Pokémon!" Coyote shouted.

The three prepared to charge it full force, but Marcus heard a shout from behind almost instantly. As he turned, he saw Peter charging towards him.

"You won't get away, you son of a bitch!"  
"How the hell did he…"

He had no time to react before Peter plowed into him and knocked him to the ground. Marcus kicked him off and got to his feet.

"Alright, that's enough. Looks like I'm gonna have to beat some sense back into you, Pete. It's gonna hurt me more than it's gonna hurt you."

While Anna and Coyote focused on the large Aparoid, Marcus occupied himself with Peter, who chose that moment to throw a roundhouse kick at his head. Marcus blocked it and retaliated with a few well-placed punches to Peter's forehead and an elbow to the chest. As soon as he recovered, Peter strafed around Marcus' next few attacks before grabbing him from behind and suplexing him.

While Coyote distracted the giant Aparoid, Anna strafed around it and looked for any sort of weak point. As she searched, however, a tentacle seemed to erupt from the creature's back and grab onto her before dangling over the drop to the hot plasma far below.

"You're not killing my cousin, shithead!" Coyote growled.

As the creature released the screaming Anna, Coyote jumped across the large gap between the catwalks and caught her cousin before landing on the way across.

"How…how did you do that?!"

"I jumped. People tend to be able to jump."  
"Yes, but not fifteen feet across a boiling lake of lava!"

"Plasma."  
"What's the difference?!"

Neither of them noticed these changes as the _Great Fox _began orbiting overhead.

"We're within range, but we need Pete to stay still for at least five seconds!" Chase said through the comm.

"A little hard to do considering he wants to break my neck here!" Marcus replied as he ducked under another punch and followed it up with a nut shot.

Marcus turned just as the giant Aparoid was starting to approach him, but before it could attack, Anna and Coyote got it from behind with Coyote jumping in front and shooting it back with a blast from the Repulsor Gauntlets. Peter meanwhile had recovered from the nut shot right as Marcus turned around. The two attempted roundhouse kicks at the same time which just resulted in their legs clashing in mid-air, forcing them to push hard against one another in order to try and gain the upper hand.

When Anna joined Coyote to take down the Aparoid again, the beast slashed at the two of them and had managed to knock Anna back a few feet. Coyote had finally gotten fed up. She could feel her blood pressure steadily growing stronger before she roared out in anger…and I don't mean she went "You son of a bitch!" or "That tears it, motherfucker!" I mean she roared like a demonic reptile, scaring not only Anna but Marcus as well. Coyote herself didn't care how she felt or how she had sounded just now. She simply wanted to kill this creature as violently as she possibly could.

When it moved again, she strafed backwards to allow its hand to slam into the ground. Next, she grabbed Marcus' staff (which had skittered over to her after Peter had knocked it out of its owner's hands) and stabbed through the hand to pin the beast to the ground. Following this, she ran up its arm to its torso and stabbed her gauntlets' blades into the Aparoid's eyes, blinding it before she stabbed one pair of claws through the back of its head and raised it to expose its neck. Finally, she rammed the second pair of claws into the exposed neck and kept slicing through until the creature's head came free of its body, which now collapsed having nothing attached to tell it what to do. Coyote slashed at the air to relieve her gauntlets of the head's weight before finally falling to her knees and panting heavily.

"What…what the fuck did I just do?"

Marcus was completely stunned as he had watched play out, but he still had the delirious Peter to worry about…or at least, he did until he got a clean shot to his head. At that moment, the young Dengar shook his head and once again acted as though he were coming out of a dazed state.

"What the hell just…God, my bloody head."

"Pete? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, mate, but…oh, God, my head!"

He began screaming at the top of his lungs and clutching at his head. Listening in on his thoughts, Marcus could hear nothing but shrill screeches echoing in Peter's ears. Kursed was torturing him.

"Somebody make it stop! Make it stop!" Peter screamed before clutching at the base of his helmet.

"PETE, NO!"

Too late. The moment Peter released the latches on his helmet, the intense heat came rushing in and nestled on his face. His screams became even worse as he fell on the ground writhing in agony, and Marcus was quick to rush forward and slam the latches back down before it could get any worse. The worst part of it, however, was that the suits were very bulky and left a lot of free space between the person wearing it and its britches, so as bad as his face looked now, Marcus knew the rest of his body was just as bad.

"Oh, God…Chase! Emergency repo now! Pete's down! Third-degree burns!"

"Jesus Christ…okay! Grab the beacon and let's go!"

Coyote seized the glowing sphere while Marcus and Anna heaved Peter up off the ground, and once the beam of light rained down from the mothership and enveloped them, they were inside and heading back to Corneria as fast as they could.

**Back on safe ground…**

"This is horrible." Marcus said angrily. "The people I've come to know and care about are getting hurt, and it's all because of me."

That was all he could think as Peter was rushed away inside the ambulance that had been called to the airway the moment the _Great Fox _touched down. He would be hospitalized for likely a few weeks, but the damage done to his skin was permanent. He wasn't going to look the same when he finally did recover. Chase, Damalgo and Coyote had all gone home, utterly scarred by what had happened. Coyote in particular.

Anna came silently forward with the orb and offered it to Marcus, who simply looked at it furiously for a moment. After a few seconds of silence, he sighed and pressed his hand to it. Again he was seeing a vision, this one even more horrific than the one he had seen before. It was what had happened to Coyote the previous night. He winced and nearly groaned in terror at everything the vision showed, from Coyote's awful screams to Kursed's expressions of pleasure to just seeing what she was doing. Then he heard the voice.

"There's more where that came from."

Marcus clenched his teeth and punched the closest inanimate object (a brick wall that buckled the moment he hit it), letting out a shout of anger as he did so. Anna laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Mark…we can get through this. She can't take us all on, can she?"

Marcus sighed and looked at her in the most distressed way she had ever seen.

"She'll do more than that…she make you cry out for your mother for the first time in years."

"But there's no way she can be all that powerful."

"I don't know if she is or not, and I don't care…but one thing is certain…I'm gonna make her suffer just like we are if it's the last thing I do."

_For those of you who were scarred for life by what happened in the last chapter...sorry, but hey! It did its job! I still feel the need to assure you guys that I am not some sick BDSM freak who ogles women menacingly in his spare time...seriously. I've read Fifty Shades of Grey. It ain't a lot of fun._

_I've decided to hold off on Darkstalkers for a while since 1: I don't feel enough motivation to work on it, 2: this is the more popular story so people care more about it, and 3: it's more fun to work on anyway. I'm not sure when Darkstalkers is gonna get going again, but it won't be for a while._

_There's also something I'd like anybody who enjoys this story to do for me. I've got a poll on my profile that is pretty much asking you which story you want me to do next. If you guys could check that out and maybe put a vote on it, I'd be really grateful. Whoring aside, I'll see you guys later._

_Special thanks to tylerjeraldr for the Aparoid idea. You kick ass, man! ;)_

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare- _"Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "_Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

_Coyote versus the shadows- _"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson

_The star Lylat- _Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime


	10. 9: Domestic Violence

CHAPTER NINE

**Domestic Violence**

**Later that night…**

**McClouds' House**

"Further evidence of a potential terrorist threat was present when Team Star Fox was suddenly deployed to Lylat and returned with their weapons specialist Dengar suffering from third-degree burns covering his body." said the newscaster on Marcus' computer screen. "This incident comes only two days after the disastrous F-Zero race after which a being known as Kursed proclaimed potential war against the Lylat System. General Peppy Hare had this to say."

The screen switched over to an image of Peppy Hare, one of the McCloud family's closest friends.

"I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of Kursed, but I can assure all Cornerian citizens that our defenses will be placed higher than ever. If this Kursed person does exist, we'll get them."

He was of course lying. Peppy was one of those people who could lie to you about something and you wouldn't realize it unless he told you himself, and that could be years after it happened. That said, he didn't appreciate doing it, though he had no choice this time. Had anybody found out who Kursed really was, there was no telling how big of a riot would break out.

The screen switched back to the newscaster.

"The assurance of greater defenses has left many citizens wondering if the military is hiding something from them, though any who were…"

"Fuck."

That was all that Marcus had the strength or patience to say as he pressed the power button on his computer and turned it off before slamming his head down on his desk. Needless to say, he'd had a very rough day. The hospital had just called him to tell him that Peter was going to be fine, but he had suffered terrible skin damage that was going to take a while to recover. Thankfully, he was at least in a perfect mental state. In fact, the first thing he asked upon waking up was if the rest of the team was alright. That alone would normally be enough to brighten up Marcus' mood, but that wasn't all that disturbed him.

Granted, he was relieved at that much. What was really eating away at him, however, was what Coyote had done to that Aparoid. She did sometimes get sadistic with her kills, but she never tried to outright mutilate anyone before. She hadn't even tried to do that to him when they were enemies back in the day. And what in the world was with that demonic roar?! Even some of the monsters the team had to face in the past didn't make noises as intimidating as that!

"What is Kursed doing to her? Coyote never did anything to her, so why…"

He didn't have to ask why. He knew it was just to get to him. It was just to make him angrier and angrier to the point of doing something reckless that would wind up with him giving her exactly what she wanted. She didn't care who had to die…why would she? She was a heartless monster.

"Dammit. I can't let this keep happening, but what am I supposed to do? I can't face her head-on, especially when she won't just show up and settle the score once and for all!"

Marcus sensed the presence of someone in his room before they came up to him. At first, he was nervous that it may have been She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named, but the warm hand on his shoulder suggested otherwise.

"I heard about Peter, sport." Fox said. "Is he going to be alright?"

"Yeah…but it's my fault he got hurt. It's always my fault when people get hurt now."

Marcus looked up and sighed.

"She did something to Coyote, Dad…Kursed was able to hurt Coyote, and it's my fault that it even happened. Kursed wants to kill everyone on this planet, and seeing how she was able to give Peter Dengar, who is one of the toughest guys I've ever met…yeah, if she was able to turn that guy delirious, I don't see how anybody can stop her."

"You don't see it, but do you feel it?"

"What?"

"Marcus, remember when you took down Andross? You did the most insane thing I've ever seen anybody do, and nobody saw any possible way to kill him, but you still did it. You know why? Because you knew in your heart that he wasn't immortal and that you could defeat him. You just needed to try your very best."

"What's your point?"

"It's the same with Kursed. She may seem immortal and be everywhere at once like a parasite, but that doesn't mean she's unbeatable."

"But weren't you and Mom the ones who said that she wasn't someone to screw around with?"

"Yes, but you're much braver than we've ever been. Blowing your ship up in Andross' mouth and taking a leap of faith down to the ground? I never would have done that even if my life depended on it."

Marcus made another attempt at protesting his father's words of wisdom, but he was cut off.

"You're a fighter, Marcus. You can do it. You just need to have faith in yourself."

Marcus sighed once more before smiling. He was beginning to sound more like Krystal every day. Maybe that was one of the benefits of marriage: you slowly gained the positive traits of your spouse through assimilation.

"Seems like I'm getting words of wisdom from everybody these days. Thanks, Dad."

Fox gave Marcus a light hug.

"You should hit the hay now, alright? You'll feel much better after a good night's sleep."

"Yeah…hey, where's Mom?"

"Oh, she went a few hours ago to go see Lucy and Amanda. She'll be back any minute."

"Okay. Good night, Dad."

Fox left the room as Marcus got in the bed and shut the door. He let out a long exhale.

"That kid's under way more pressure than he deserves…maybe he should think about retiring."

He smirked.

"Nah. Just because I was a coward when it came to this doesn't mean he has to be. He'll be fine. He's a big boy now…heh. Come to think of it, Mark's growing up way too damn fast."

He turned off the light as he came into his bedroom and threw himself down on the bed, getting under the blanket and looking out the window.

"To think that he's getting to the age when he'll be having kids."

He nestled himself into the bed and slowly closed his eyes, but his ear twitched when he heard the door slowly open. He didn't turn around, but the moment he felt whoever came into the room lie down on the bed and drape their arms around his torso, he smiled. The hands gently squeezed at him more and more and caressed themselves all over his body, followed up by a light kiss on his cheek.

"Someone's a little frisky tonight, eh?" Fox said before turning over and looking Krystal right in the face.

He didn't find it odd that Krystal had her eyes closed, but upon him gently touching her face, she opened them and shocked him into drawing back. Her eyes were glowing bright red.

"Guess who."

Fox stared at her with wide eyes. Kursed simply chuckled seductively.

"What's wrong? Just relax and we can have one hell of a fun night."

"…where's Krystal?"

"In here with us."

"What did you do to her?"

"She's sleeping. I needed to borrow her body for a little while."

"Let me guess: you want to do to me what you did to little Coyote."

"Something like that. So let's get started."

Before Fox had the time to get out of bed, the possessed Krystal rolled on top of him and pinned him down, draping her tongue across his cheek. If it hadn't have been for the fact that Krystal wasn't the aggressive lover type of person, he wouldn't have minded this. Minding it, however, did him no good as he thrashed about to try and get loose.

"You're not gonna get away with any of this." Fox growled. "Someone's gonna…"

Her tail slinked up and covered his mouth.

"Hush." she cooed. "Don't worry about that. We're still husband and wife, after all. Why does my job have to matter?"

"Fmmk ymm!" Fox shouted, his obscenities muffled by the bottlebrush tail.

"I'll be glad to let you do that."

Fox furrowed his brow, particularly when Kursed moaned and her clothes started to unravel themselves.

"Let's not keep each other waiting any longer, shall we?"

Fox had had enough. He shot his head forward and smashed it against hers. When she pulled back, he got his chance. He pressed his foot against her stomach and kicked her away as hard as he could before he got up out of the bed with his fists raised. Kursed laughed as she recovered from the blow and stood up.

"You like playing rough, huh? I've got plenty of room for that."

"I'm sure you do. Let's go."

"Oh, but Fox, sweetheart. You married Krystal, and I'm part of her. Doesn't that mean we're married, too?"

"If that's the case, then consider this your divorce."

Fox was the first to attack by charging forward with a heavy punch. Kursed simply grabbed it and slammed his stomach with her knee. He had to force himself not to throw up before grabbing her by the head and vaulting him over her shoulder. This proved ineffective as she landed up right behind him and kicked him square in the back.

"Keep hittin' me. I love it."

"Of course you do."

His next punch was avoided and he found himself pressed flat against the wall. He pushed back and started throwing a barrage of punches, all of them avoided or blocked and the last countered with a punch to the muzzle. Once he recovered, Kursed pounced on Fox and pinned him to the ground again.

"That was real sweet the way you told Marcus that I wasn't unbeatable."

"You're not…are you?"  
"Why ruin the surprise?"

The belt that had been holding up Krystal's pants snaked its way into Kursed's hands and she proceeded to press it down on Fox's throat.

"Why fight it? I just wanna make you feel good."

Fox had to choke out his next words.

"In all honesty, BDSM is probably one of those thing that I'd be into when I become a senile old man who can't tell left from right."

"Sounds good to me."

"Not to me."

"Just a way to please my dear sweet husband."

"Please this!"

He rolled over and slammed her into the floor, followed by him flipping back to his feet. The moment he did, Kursed brought her legs up and clamped her ankles on his neck, pulling herself up onto his torso. She licked her lips and started deep into his eyes.

"Come on…aren't I at least a little pretty?"

"You may have been back when you were dormant inside Krystal, but certainly not now."

Fox slammed her against the wall and pulled back, lowering himself into a fighting stance to get ready for her next attack. Instead, she just stood there. Much to his surprise, the seductive look was gone from her face. Now she seemed to be harbouring a look of intense anger.

"Oh, so that's it, huh? You think I ENJOYED being locked up inside of her? You think I ENJOYED her getting all the praise and me being shoved off to the side?"

"You think I ENJOY you starting a rant when I was pretty sure that we were fighting just now?"

Kursed scoffed.

"You're awfully cute, Fox. I can see why Krystal would want to marry you. What I don't see is how she can live with the fact that she tossed me aside in favour of you."

"Jealousy. Great. It's real fun to listen to."  
"It doesn't matter anyway. Let me make one thing clear, though: Marcus may be braver than you, and I don't deny that, but you just lied to him in there."

"How so?"

"You told him he had the power to protect his friends from me. That is nothing but a lie. I had a lot of fun with Coyote last night, and she's too good of a toy to just throw away after one little playdate. Once I'm done with her, though, I'll be sure to play with Marcus.

"If you lay one finger on him…"

"You'll do what? Call for Krystal to subdue me? She is nothing. A piece of shit means more to me than her. If you'd like, though, I could make sure that she stays dormant in this body forever."

"ENOUGH!"

Fox aimed another heavy punch at her. She simply blocked it and followed it up with a palm strike to his forehead. From there on it was attack, block, counter, attack, block, counter. Occasionally one of them would perform a sweep kick or try to vault the other of their shoulders. After what felt like quite a long time to the one who was actually breaking a sweat, the entire room looked as though a tornado had run through it. Banging against the walls constantly was no help as it had eventually woken Marcus up.

"Jesus Christ, that better not be what I think it is." he said in a concerned tone.

Fox made a somewhat futile attempt at a roundhouse kick to Kursed's head. She grabbed his leg by the ankle with barely any effort.

"You people never learn."

Fox never thought that anybody could possibly have it in them, but he found himself being spun around by the ankle he was tossed across the room. A loud smash signalled that he had broken through the bedroom window, and this was only further emphasized when he went skidding across the driveway and horribly scraped the side he had landed on. Everything in his body hurt from his bones to his organs, and all this had been done with nearly no effort from his opponent.

"I knew I had to be a little rusty, but this is just too much…I'm beginning to think I shouldn't have retired."

Kursed still wasn't finished with him. She landed directly in front of him as he began to weakly pull himself up off the ground.

"You and Krystal were right to say I'm not to be trifled with. I'll slit every throat on this fucking planet if I have to."

"Yeah? Well, I ain't half-bad at putting bullets in peoples' heads, but you don't see me getting all full of angst about it."

"Wonderful, clown made a funny. You can't stop me, Fox. No one can. Not with the kind of power I have now."

"What's power if you're a whack-job that can't even use it properly?"

"That's enough. Time for you to sleep."

She proceeded to move forward only to have Fox pull a pistol out from under the hem of his shirt and aim it right between her eyes.

"You think I was unprepared for you showing up? I'm not as dumb as you think I am."

Kursed stood there for a brief moment before the seductive smile crept across her face again. Just seeing it made Fox sick enough to want to punch it right off.

"Go ahead, then, if you're man enough to kill a woman. Why don't we see just who the stronger one is by having one blast the other in the face?"

To say the least, she wasn't expecting to see him cock it back and aim true, but he did it, and never once did he change his angry and determined expression.

"I haven't killed anybody in almost twenty years…and I never thought for a moment the first person I'd kill in that time would be you."

Without a second of wasted time, he pulled the trigger, but not before he heard the front door be kicked open.

"DAD, NO!"

The bullet stopped in mid-air and was reduced to a pile of ash as Marcus intervened. Fox stood absolutely dumbstruck that the person Kursed had been hunting in the first place had just single-handedly defended her when he was about to end it once and for all.

"Why did you do that?!" Fox sputtered. "I could have killed her right here and now!"

"It may be Kursed's soul, but it's Mom's body. The only person you'd be killing is Mom."

Kursed smiled.

"Aww, how sweet of you, Marky. Finally jumping to Mommy's side when she needs you the most."

Marcus turned to her and pointed at her with a threatening finger.

"This doesn't change anything, bitch. I will never forgive you for what you've done to Peter and Coyote. One of these days you and I are gonna square off once and for all, and when that day comes, I'm gonna be ready. Now get out of my mother's body. Now!"

"Hm. You're gonna be ready, eh? Here's a little newsflash for you, sweetie."

Kursed sneakily narrowed her eyes and leaned closer to him.

"I'm counting on it." she whispered.

Her words alone made Marcus shudder, and the way she had said them only made it more uncomfortable. He still stood his ground, wanting to lash out at her but knowing he'd just injure Krystal by doing so.

The body she inhabited suddenly began wracking itself before it let out Krystal's familiar cry of pain. She teetered forward, forcing Marcus and Fox to rush forward and catch her. She felt at her head and shook it, seeming as though she were waking up from a bad dream.

Then again, if Kursed was involved, it wasn't just a dream. It was a nightmare.

"What in Grimm's name just happened…do I have a black eye…Oh my God! Fox, what happened to you?!"

It took Marcus and Fox a moment to explain it to her, and when she fully understood, her brow was furrowed as well.

"How could I let her get back into me even for a moment?" she seethed.

"Whatever the case, we need to ready for anything and everything…" Marcus sighed.

They were all silent for a moment before angrily uttering out the same word simultaneously.

"Fuck."

_Didn't expect a new chapter this early, did ya? Let's just say I really wanted to work on this story, and since that chapter wasn't that long anyway, I figured "Ah, what the hell." Not only that, but we're getting into the juicy stuff now._

_I don't think there's going to be another chapter release this month since it's really close to exam time where I live. Yeah, school's a pretty nasty annoyance, but if it leads to a greater cause at the end, then I'm all for it. With that said, later days!_

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare- _"Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "_Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

_Coyote versus the shadows- _"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson

_The star Lylat- _Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime

_Marcus and Fox- _"Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

_Fox versus Kursed- _"Du Hast" by Rammstein


	11. 10: Obstruction

CHAPTER TEN

**Obstruction**

**March 2****nd****, 2057**

**Heaven Arm General Hospital, Planet Corneria**

"Marcus McCloud?" asked a nurse.

"Yes?"

"Mr. Dengar can see you now."

"Thank you."

Marcus walked into the pearly white hospital room where Peter was resting, and upon seeing his porcine friend, he wasn't very shocked aside for the intense red hue. As Marcus came in, a smile came across Peter's face.

"Hey, buddy."

"Hey."

"So did we get the beacon?"

"Good. That's all that I really cared about."

He sighed and leaned his head against the wall he rested his back on.

"I tell ya, mate, that Kursed woman is one psycho bitch."

"You don't know the half of it…but let's not talk about her. I've had enough of her as it is. How do you feel?"

"Much better now. My face feels a little weird, though. It's all velvety now."

"He's right in here, Ms. Keller." said the nurse.

Just as Marcus and Peter looked towards the doorway, Susan came rushing in and embraced Peter.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Easy there, sunshine. I'm fine. I'm tougher than you might think."

"I know that, but that doesn't change the fact that you got third-degree burns all over your body. Didn't it hurt?"

"It hurt for about five seconds and then my nervous system just went dead. Not a pleasant feeling."

"So how long before you're let out?" asked Marcus.

"A few more days at the most. They need some time to get my skin back to normal so I don't look like a devil pig. Can't have that, can we?"

Marcus laughed. That was what he needed right now. A good laugh. Granted, he hadn't forgotten that Kursed was the cause of this, but he still liked to feel good about the things in life that made him happy instead of just brooding over the bad things. Otherwise he'd be no better than…I'm very afraid of offending _Final Fantasy _fans, so I'm gonna stop right there.

"So are you two living together now, or what's going on?" Marcus asked.

"We're dating. Taking it easy for now." Peter replied. "I'd say we're at second base."

"How far off is home plate?"

"Uhh…"

"Five months, maybe." Susan answered.

"I was talking about marriage."

"Exactly. Five months. For the other thing, I give it three."

Marcus smirked. Now THIS was one feisty woman. Sure, she hid it under her cute feminine charm, but her primal instincts were still there...but then again, if they were truly primal instincts, then she wouldn't be dating a pig, now would she?

Much to Marcus' surprise, in wheeled another patient with a bright smile on her face, making him even happier when he saw who it was.

"And how are we this morning?" she asked Marcus.

"Samus! How do you feel?"

'Pretty good. I'm starting to be able to feel my legs, but the doctor's saying that I might have to learn how to walk all over again."

"That sucks."

"It shouldn't take too long. Falcon's doing pretty well, too. In fact, he's already out. I heard he's gone back home."

"Thank God. I didn't expect him to survive playing the superhero like that."

"Well, he did. I did manage to get to know your friend pretty well, too."

"Yeah…he's in here for the same reason you are."

Samus grimaced.

"That woman…that experience with her was honestly one of the scariest moments I've ever experienced, and believe me: I've seen some scary shit in my day."

Let's just assume she's talking about being chased by SA-X, okay?

"So what are you gonna do?" Samus asked.

"What we're doing right now is ruling out any possible nests of hers by collecting the beacons…yes, I said nest, because I seriously doubt anybody would consider her humane in any way. There's about two left and Anne said that once we get them all, we can track the epicenter and hopefully be able to put a stop to it."

"Sounds epic. How much are you getting paid?"

"Nada. This is personal."

"And the rest of the team is okay with helping you on a personal vendetta? Are they getting any reward out of it?"

"I don't know. I never asked them to help. They just want to do it. Whether it's because I'm a saint to them and they think that everything they do is for me or they just don't wanna see the galaxy to shit, I'm just happy they're helping me. They'd do anything for me, and I'd do the same for them."

Samus smiled.

"To think I questioned your authenticity as a hero even for a second."

Marcus' pager beeped the second Samus stopped talking. He answered it to reveal Chase.

"Get down to the airway, Mark. We've found the fourth beacon."

"Got it. I'm on my way."

He turned it off and looked at everyone in the room.

"Duty calls."

"Knock 'em dead out there, Mark." Peter said.

"Be sure to give Kursed three shots in the butt for us, would you?"

Marcus smiled and winked.

"You can count on it."

**A use of light-speed later…**

"I can't believe we're actually even coming this far out here." Coyote said.

"We've got no other choice." replied Damalgo. "If we're gonna get to the fourth beacon, we've gotta get through here."

Here being the Bolse Defense Outpost, a gigantic satellite orbiting around Venom and generating a protective shield around the massive and nearly uninhabitable planet. The only other way to Venom was through Area 6, but that was on the far side and they'd had enough trouble going through there three years ago just to get to Sauria. The satellite's edges were covered in neon lights (a questionable design choice considering the core of a defense system should be well-hidden and not flashing red and green like a Christmas tree), and it was almost as large as the _Great Fox. _

"Okay, team. Let's delve in and find a way to blow this thing to smithereens." instructed Marcus.

The five Arwings rocketed downwards. Anna immediately noticed eight tall towers on the face that they were delving towards, each emitting a stream of energy that went inward and formed a shield around a large hole in the structure.

"This should do it." she concluded. "Everybody aim for the towers!"

Each of them broke off in different direction as the Aparoids started phasing through the shield and flying toward them at top speed.

"There's just something about this that perplexes me." Damalgo said. "How is Kursed able to generate Aparoids? Didn't the old Star Fox team blow their queen up or something?"

"You know what's perplexing me?" Anna asked. "Why you're asking that when we're trying to blow up a satellite."

"It's a legit question!"  
"Well, yes, it is. Chase, you're the biological genius here. You explain it."

Chase obliged after barrel-rolling away from a projectile.

"You see, Al, my theory is that when the Star Fox team destroyed the Aparoid Queen, some of her DNA must have intermingled with Krystal's. Maybe she was a little too close when the Queen went boom, I don't know, but since Kursed was a part of Krystal back in the day, it's very likely she somehow absorbed the DNA, an dthus became the new Aparoid Queen. Thanks to this, she's able to generate Aparoids, and she must have split this power off into the five beacons."

"Oh, okay. I get it now. And you mentioned that apoptosis thing meaning that if the Queen goes, the whole species goes with her."

"Yes. We kill Kursed, we kill the Aparoids. We nab all the beacons, we can trace the epicenter which is probably where her physical form is hiding out."

"Like we said before, though," Anna interrupted. "The beacons aren't generators. They're gateways, and there's no planet large enough to house a big army like the Aparoids, especially when new ones can generate in seconds. Therefore, they may or may not be confirming my theory that I told you guys to hope I was at least 80% wrong on."

"I still have no idea why you said 80%. You're either right or you're wrong. There's no in-between." Coyote said philosophically.

"Actually, there is. Remember when we were half-right about you trying to gun down Mark on Sauria three years ago?"  
"Low blow, Annie. Hitting below the belt. Not pleasant."

Getting back to the battle at hand, Marcus immediately began heading toward the nearest tower. To his surprise, he heard the loud revving of a motor before each of the towers began rotating away from them in a clockwise manner.

"Built-in defense mechanism, eh?" Chase said with a smirk. "Perhaps Andross wasn't so kooky after all."

"No, he was." Coyote replied. "He was like Marilyn Manson. He was a whacko, but he was a very intelligent and talented whacko. That's why you're better. You're intelligent, talented, and stable."

"That's a first. Coyote O'Donnell actually complimented me."

"Don't get too used to it."

"Two can play at this game…or I guess six…dammit." Marcus grumbled before giving out the order. "Change tactics! Let's go counter-clockwise and charge 'em!"

The team U-turned and shot back the other way, the Aparoids doing the same. When one of them swooped in front of Coyote, she locked onto it and fired away with a charged shot, only to have it bounce back at her when a force field popped up around the creature at the last second.

"Hey, what the…the Aparoids are shielded, too!"

"You're shittin' me!" Chase said in shock. "Might as well give 'em frickin' laser cannons for Johnsons…please don't tell me I just jinxed it."

A few seconds went by and…

"We're good." Marcus said.

"Praise Jesus." Chase sighed.

"We've got no choice then. Avoid the Aparoids at all costs! Al! Let's you and take care of this one here!"

The _Arwing III _and the _Bonesetter_ veered off in the direction the former's pilot had pointed out. They charged up their lasers and prepared to fire away, but Marcus right away felt his ESP go off.

"Oh, no. Everybody be careful! I think she's…"

"What the hell is that?!" Coyote interrupted.

What Marcus hadn't seen was a massive shadow fly across the satellite before disappearing. The shadow appeared to have two massive dragging arms but no legs.

"Umm…just an assumption, but we might wanna do what we've gotta do and get outta here…fast!" said Anna after a few moments of silence.

"No need to tell us twice." Coyote said, looking around for any sign of the shadow's source.

"Yeah, but I didn't tell you twice."

"It's a figure of speech, Annie."

Nevertheless, Marcus and Damalgo locked onto the tower and fired away at the tip. Upon the charged shots colliding, the tip crumpled away and the beam directing itself to the energy field disappeared. The field itself remained intact but it seemed to flicker slightly, and this became more pronounced as Anna and Coyote took down a tower on the other side. Chase managed to notice that the Aparoids chasing them were flickering in a similar fashion.

"So are the shields a factor of their evolution or are they just…hey, what the hell is going on?"

It was now that the team started to feel as though the gravity was steadily starting to work against them, beginning to steadily push each of the five ships down towards the metal surface.

"Increase G-Diffuser system output!" Marcus barked.

They did so and their ships were able to fly normally again.

"Well?" Coyote asked. "Any reasonable explanation as to what's going on?"

"No," Anna remarked. "But I can definitely say that it's not the satellite's doing."

"What a smart and pretty little girl you are, Anna."

Anna looked all around her.

"Who said that?" she asked.

"Said what?" Damalgo asked.

"…never mind."

The voice was sinister and very calm, completely the opposite of what the testosterone-charged action going on around them would call for. Anna had a hard time listening to everyone else talk, let alone shaking off what she had just heard.

"We're gonna need to make this fast if we're gonna outrun whatever is shifting the gravity around." Marcus instructed. "Let's try to split up and take 'em out one-by-one! Anna, Al, and Coyote can take the west side. Chase and I can take the east."

The five ships split off in different directions with Marcus and Chase U-turning back towards the three towers behind them. A small gang of Aparoids came shooting towards them, forcing the two to veer off and split it apart before they could reroute back towards the tower…at least, that was what Marcus did. Chase meanwhile went back towards them and started flying around them.

"Yo, bug breath! Hit me! I dare you!"

"Are you out of your mind, Toad?!" Coyote hollered. "Your dad's the king of getting chased around by bogies and you're willingly offering yourself to them?!

"Watch and learn, puppy girl."

As soon as the Aparoids began chasing after him, Chase shot back toward the tower and as soon as it looked like he was about to crash headlong into it, he performed a quick somersault and the first Aparoid took his place crashing against the tower while the second and third flew overhead and smashed into the next one, all three destroying themselves and taking the two tower heads with them.

"POW! Ha ha!" Chase whooped in an obviously fake and heavily exaggerated Russian accent.

"I stand corrected. Well done, Chase." Coyote said.

"Whatever happened to the "don't get used to it" bit?"

"And now I'll correct myself: don't expect a compliment unless you do something smart for a change."

"Okay, that does it. Screw you, guy. I'm going home."  
'Not now!"

"I'm only kidding. Jesus Christ, what's a guy gotta do to get a laugh around here?"

Marcus steered around the two towers ("THEY'RE TAKING THE HOBBITS TO ISENGARD!") and headed toward the third one, but as he approached it, he heard the voice. It wasn't coming for him or Coyote, though.

"Oh, Aaaannaaaaa…" Kursed cooed. "I wanna play a game."

Anna bit her lip and furrowed her brow and she blasted down one of the tower heads. The voice seemed to be the only audible thing in Anna's ears, and considering her heritage, that was saying a lot.

"Let's play hide and seek. Try to find me." the evil voice whispered.

"Leave me alone!"

"Anna, what's wrong?" Coyote said. "Are you hit?"

She didn't get a response. Anna laid her head on her ship's dashboard and brought her hands up to her ears, wanting to shut out all the noise. It didn't do any good. The voice was in her head, echoing throughout her brain.

"Do you give up? Aww, that's a shame. Here, let me give you a hint."

Anna felt a hand down on her shoulder, causing her to sit up suddenly and spin around. There was no one there. She took several deep breathes and managed to calm herself down before she turned back to…a decomposing and zombified Kursed sitting right in front of her and staring her in the face!

"How's Annie?" she croaked with delight.

Anna covered her eyes and screamed as loud as she could, severely startling all of the other team members before Marcus pressed his fingers to his temples and closed his eyes.

"Anna." he said softly. "Everything is going to be fine. She can't hurt you like she hurt Coyote."

Anna continued to scream and whimper until she heard Marcus' voice echo in her ears. It was soothing enough to steadily slow her heart rate back to normal, and when she opened her eyes, Kursed was no longer there.

"Why don't you go back to the _Great Fox_?" Marcus suggested. "Just try to get yourself calmed down."

"N-no…I'm not going back there by myself…"

"No worries, Anne." Chase said. "I'll go with you. I won't let her hurt you."

"…okay."

The _Slip Strap _and the _Punk Rock-It_ flew back to their mothership, adjusting the G-Diffuser as they left.

"She's trying to get to everyone...everyone that's close to me." Marcus grumbled. "She's just doing this to torture me, isn't she?"

"Mark, it's..." Damalgo started.

"Were you just about to say it's not a big deal?!"

"No, I was about to say it's not the appropriate time to dwell on these things! The gravity's starting to get worse!"

"…goddammit, I'm turning into a brooding mama's boy."

The last two towers were taken care of relatively easily, and the second the last one was down, the force field began flashing rapidly until it disappeared altogether. There was one problem, though: the moment it did this, several Aparoids came shooting out through the hole.

"And this is why I usually prefer the stealth missions." Coyote groaned. "…there it is again!"

The shadow swooped across the satellite yet again, this time leaving a terrible moaning in its wake.

"Where's that damn core?!" Damalgo said somewhat nervously. "Let's just blow this thing and get out of here!"

"We're just gonna have to hold them off until the core appears." Marcus said before motioning to his comm. "Chase, are you and Anne back at the _Great Fox_?"

"We're landing in the hangar bay right now, but that gravity thing is over here, too."

Marcus sat completely confused. Was there any indication as to what was going on? Did this shadow that kept sweeping across the satellite have anything to do with the gravity?

None of these questions were answered right away as a group of Aparoids came charging towards him. He locked onto the center one and fired away with a smart bomb, decimating anything that came within its blast radius. Another Aparoid landed on top of the _Iron Maiden_, only to be sent hurtling into what little remained of one of the towers when Coyote barrel-rolled to send it flying off. Damalgo halted to ensure that there were two Aparoids coming from either side of him before somersaulting out of the way and forcing them to crash into one another.

Once each of them had taken down a decent number of the creatures, they heard a loud sliding noise before a large cylindrical structure emerged from the hole in the center on the satellite face.

"There's the core!" Coyote yelled. "Let's move in and attacking the glowing spots!"

On the _Great Fox_, Chase had just gotten Anna out of her ship and sat her down on the bridge, looking into her eyes with complete sincerity.

"Anne, are you okay?"

Anna continued to steadily pant and stare off into space. He gently touched her cheek. She blinked once but otherwise didn't move. He gently kissed her forehead. She turned her head towards him and finally seemed to calm down.

"Chase…she…she was…"

She couldn't even finish what she was saying. Chase laid a hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright. You don't have to be afraid of her…"

"But I…she…what the hell is that?!"

The shadow hadn't appeared on the satellite, but the _Great Fox_ itself. Just when Chase was about to call Marcus and warn him, the mothership shook with such a force that it knocked him off his feet. He was just barely able to recover from the shock before he turned on his comm.

"Mayday! We've got an unidentified being attacking the _Great Fox_! Repeat! The _Great Fox _is under attack!" he yelled.

"Mark! Coyote!" Damalgo ordered. "Go check out the _Great Fox_! I'll finish up our business with the satellite!"

"Are you sure? There's still dozens of Aparoids flying around here." Marcus asked.

Damalgo flew up alongside Marcus and gave him a smirking wink,

"Trust me."

Marcus sighed and nodded.

"Alright, Coyote. Let's go see what the problem is."

"Right behind you…really. I honestly don't wanna see what that thing is."

The two ships cruised away from the satellite and searched around the _Great Fox_ until they found their target clinging to the underside of one of the ship's wings: a large mechanical creature with two incredibly long arms but no legs, as well as a strange glowing sphere that seemed to be phasing the air around it. Its face was not visible, covered by what appeared to be a mask of a human face with hollowed-out eyes and its mouth stitched shut and while the creature's armour was a dark shade of blue, Marcus could still make out an inscription on one of its arms: "GMM1".

"THAT'S what we were nervous about?" Coyote asked. "That thing's just barely bigger than an Arwing!"

"Don't underestimate it. There's no telling what this thing is gonna do."

The moment the creature saw the _Arwing III _and the _Iron Maiden_, it charged and swung at them with its arms. The two of them dropped like apples falling from a tree and jetted away from it, forcing it to give chase. It was when Marcus looked in his rear-view camera (a mirror would seem obsolete this late in history) that he saw the small laser cannons attached to its arms, which began firing at them the moment he saw them.

"It's safe to say that whoever built this thing tricked it out pretty nicely." he said.

"What, you don't Kursed built it?"

"I doubt it. This isn't where the beacon is, so our robotic friend back there definitely isn't an Aparoid…I think…Chase, run me a scan of it real quick so I don't seem like an idiot here."

Once Chase had gotten a good look at the creature, he searched it up in the Cornerian military files before being redirected to files from the Galactic Federation database.

"Gravity Manipulation Mechanoid 1, codenamed Nightmare. It was built to protect an area of the Bottle Ship known as Sector Zero, but it looks like it malfunctioned and was destroyed by Samus, and…son of a gun."

"What?"

"I guess the phrase 'don't judge a book by its cover' is very accurate in this case. What you're seeing is just a suit of armour, but there is a living organism inside it."

"And am I to assume that this is what was screwing with the gravity?"

"I suppose so. You see that sphere on its underside?"

Marcus looked into the rear-view camera again and saw it.

"You mean the big thing that's glowing obnoxiously and basically saying 'hit me'?"

"Yeah, that's it. Obvious weak points for the win."

"In our case, yes."

"But for the love of God, watch your G-Diffuser and don't fire any smart bombs! They'll just drop like rocks!"

The two ships looped back towards the large creature, dropping down as it swung at them with its arms again. Marcus locked onto the glowing spot and fired away, hitting it spot on. Nightmare let out a low moan and thrashed about, managing to just barely scrape Coyote's ship with one arm.

"Hey! What am I, a piñata or somethin'?!"

The two ships swerved back up top and saw something quite odd: seeping out of one of the mask's eyes as what appeared to be green slime.

"Umm…what exactly does this living organism look like, Chase?" Coyote asked.

"I don't know. I would imagine no one but Samus has ever seen its face before."

"Peachy…just peachy…"

Marcus barrel-rolled when one of Nightmare's lasers came just a hair too close before U-turning and shooting back towards it. Nightmare held up one of its hands, which quickly morphed into a larger cannon and showed a massive buildup of energy.

"He's dropping anchor!" Coyote yelled as she swerved out of the way.

The massive laser that was fired was only there for a brief moment, but it surged through the air and grazed against the satellite, giving Damalgo just enough time to boost out of the way.

"Can't let my guard down for a second out here, can I?" he sighed before continuing his assault on the core.

Coyote managed to distract Nightmare by flying around its head in an irritable fashion while Marcus got another charged shot to its gravity manipulator. The mechanical monster's mask spouted more slime from its eyes as it let out a deep roar, and the gravity manipulator began to spin faster. The two ships began to be weighed down even more, forcing them to push the G-Diffuser up to its absolute limit, and that still did them very little good.

"Wait…I've got it!" Marcus said. "Coyote, come on! Let's head back to the _Great Fox_!"

"What for?"

"We're gonna try and lure him into the hangar bay."

"Are you crazy?"

"Think about it: what's in the hangar bay that has a more powerful blast than an Arwing?"

Coyote realized what he was talking about in an instant and slammed on the boost pedal right away.

"Last one there's a fried dog…literally."

The two ships shot back towards the _Great Fox. _Luckily, Marcus' idea worked as Nightmare began chasing after them. Marcus and Coyote jumped out of their ships the second they landed and quickly hid as Nightmare came flying in after them. The beast began scouting the area, looking for any sort of movement. Coyote stayed perfectly still while Marcus fought the overpowered gravity to the best of his ability to make his way over to the Landmaster tank sitting in the corner. Every time Nightmare looked anywhere near his vicinity, he got behind the nearest obstruction and stopped moving. This went on for several minutes, building up more suspense than Marcus could bear to handle.

He looked over at Coyote and nodded. She nodded in return, crept over to a deep trench that the Arwings launched from, then took a coin out of her pocket and dropped it down below. The soft chime of it striking the metal frame below caught Nightmare's attention, and it began gliding over to investigate. The moment it turned around, Marcus went headlong to the Landmaster and climbed inside. Once Nightmare saw that it had been duped, it spun around just in time to see the tank's cannon charge up.

"Yippy-ki-yay, motherfucker!" Marcus whooped as he slammed down on the fire button.

The blast slammed into the gravity manipulator, this time detonating it. Nightmare thrashed about with its mask bursting with slime. It flew about and crashed into the walls numerous times before slamming down onto the ground. As Marcus got out of the Landmaster to check if it was still alive, the mask suddenly split in half and revealed something that wasn't exactly pleasing to look at. The creature inside the armour was indeed made of what appeared to be green slime. It had a wide and gummy-looking mouth as well as six yellow eyes, and the second its face was visible, it let out an ear-shattering screech that sounded similar to a crying infant. All of this happened in just a few seconds before it went limp and stopped moving.

"So…no beacon?" Coyote asked.

"He wasn't the boss." Chase replied. "Though to his credit, he was pretty tough. That armour is so awesome!"

Marcus turned on his comm just as Damalgo attempted to contact him.

"How's it going, Al?"

"That's the last weak point! Get the _Great Fox_ outta here, 'cause this sucker's gonna blow!"

Chase immediately rerouted the _Great Fox_ out of range from the satellite as it began quaking and throwing out sparks. As they rocketed away from it as quickly as they could, the satellite quaked one last time before exploding into a massive cloud of fire and debris. Once it had done so, the massive shield encircling the planet steadily faded away.

Marcus himself looked out at the planet in a slightly unnerved way. He'd heard about this place from his father many times, and if he was to be believed, this was perhaps the worst place they could be in the entire Lylat System. But they had to go down there. They had a job to do.

"Get ready, team. We're heading for Venom."

_There isn't really too much to say, but with exams coming up, it's safe to assume that this will be the last chapter for this month...and yeah. For those of you couldn't tell from just having Samus and Ridley in this story, I REALLY like Metroid._

_One thing I was really happy to hear about was the introduction of the R18+ rating for video games in Australia, which basically means that now the good folks of the Land Down Under can finally get their hands on Mortal Kombat 9 legally. They've earned it. It's a great game._

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare- _"Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "_Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

_Coyote versus the shadows- _"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson

_The star Lylat- _Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime

_Marcus and Fox- _"Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

_Fox versus Kursed- _"Du Hast" by Rammstein

_Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- _Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)


	12. 11: The Place They Never Wanted to Go

CHAPTER ELEVEN

**The Place They Never Wanted to Go**

**Hades Valley, Planet Venom**

Anna was still too distressed to get back in the action, but she also refused to stay on the _Great Fox _with only the reassembled but still malfunctioning ROB to accompany her (especially considering the latter was blaring such phrases as "We are Legion…for we are many"). Thus, Chase remained behind, leaving Marcus, Coyote, and Damalgo to delve downward to the planet Venom.

Venom may have been the largest planet in the Lylat System, but it was far from a good place to live. The haze that filled the sky shrouded the sun and bathed the ground in perpetual twilight, while the ground itself was extremely ravaged thanks to ages of neglect. The seas were just as toxic as Zoness had been a few years back, and everything that had lived here was either hostile or dead and rotting away. The only word that could possibly describe this planet was a wasteland. The neighbouring Titania may have been bad, but at least it was bearable.

Marcus really hated to be cliché at times like this, but he still managed to utter "It's quiet…too quiet."

"Normally this wouldn't be too unnerving if there wasn't a malevolent spirit threatening to kill us all." Damalgo grumbled.

The three ships glided over the ruined surface of the planet with their pilots visually scanning it for any sign of movement. They were half-expecting Venom to be the base of operations for the Aparoids since their own homeworld was destroyed decades ago, but they saw nothing as they travelled across the vast landscape…right as a team of Aparoids came barrelling in out of nowhere.

"Incoming bogies at three o'clock!" Coyote yelled.

"Take evasive action and attack whenever you have the chance!" Marcus ordered.

The three ships swerved away from the line of fire before locking on to the closest Aparoid to each of them and firing away. Marcus barrel-rolled and scraped his wing across one Aparoid, sending it hurtling into a group of others. Once it was out of his way, he dove downward and began gliding just above the surface.

"Chase, can you get Anne to bring up the beacon on our radar?" he said into the comm.

"I'll try. She's still really shaken up, though…Anne, come on, she's not gonna jump out of the…wait…wait, what are you doing…no! Stop it!"

"Chase! What's happening?"

"She started freaking out again and pulled my pants down!"

"…oh…well, that's not bad."

"It is for me!"

With a quick somersault and well-placed smart bomb, Damalgo did away with the bogies tailing him. As the three of them progressed further, they came across a split in the path thanks to a large mountain-like protrusion reaching up towards the sky.

"I'll take the left." Damalgo said as he veered off in that direction.

"We've got the right." Marcus replied as he and Coyote swerved in said direction.

As the _Iron Maiden _and the _Arwing III _navigated through the eastern passage, they zipped about to escape from the blasts coming from their tailing adversaries only to slam on the brakes when several stone protrusions began rearing up out of the ground.

"Holy mother of…what's going on here?!" Coyote sputtered. "Is there an earthquake going on or is this planet haunted?"

"Yeah…haunted…while there's a malevolent spirit threatening to kill everyone…makes sense, don't you think?"

Navigating through this maze of rising stone was hard enough with massive bugs chasing them, but it began even more unnerving when they could swear they heard loud and rumbling footsteps off in the distance. Damalgo wasn't having it much easier with numerous criss-crossing beams of stone suddenly shooting out of the mountainside and blocking him off unless he boosted at just the right time.

"Hey, uh, Chase? You mind telling me why the planet itself is trying to kill us?"

"I attribute that Andross building defense mechanisms while he was living here. But come on. You guys can get through there. Fox, Falco, Slippy, and Peppy could do it, so there's no excuse why you can't."

"Great…do you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" asked Marcus.

"I dunno…I just keep hearing this annoying buzzing noise in my head."

Marcus bit his lip the second Damalgo said "in my head". There was no way…she wasn't that sadistic as to screw with them when they were here on Venom…was she?

The two split paths reunited at a massive drop-off that led downward to a large and literally vomit-coloured sea that had several structures sticking out of it. It was just a guess of the young mechanic, but Chase had a bad feeling that the water was acidic judging from how everything that was sticking out seemed to have been eaten away slightly. What was most noticeable was the long stone bridge jutting out that seemed to stretch on for miles, and this seemed to be the location of the loud and booming footsteps. Marcus checked his radar and confirmed that the beacon was somewhere beyond this ocean.

"Okay, guys. Stay close. Let's get down there and see just what the hell is going on." he said.

"Right." replied Coyote and Damalgo.

All of a sudden, a loud beep came from the team's radar. Upon checking it, what they got was very confusing. Nervous about who this could possibly be, Marcus linked his communicator up with the foreign entity and spoke.

"Unidentified aircraft, you have enter a quarantined territory. State identity at once."

The voice that responded was nasally and slightly unpleasant to listen to, and while the team was relieved it wasn't who they thought it was, it still surprised them. They struggled to believe it even when the owner of said voice swerved up in a Wolfen dubbed the _Prime Ape_…that should be a hint and a half for you right there.

"If it's quarantined, then why are you here?"

"Oikonny?!"

"I have a first name, you know."

Andrew Oikonny, the nephew of Andross and a current member of the Star Wolf team. Having him here wasn't exactly devastating, but it still confused them.

Coyote sighed.

"Alright, Andrew, what are you doing here?"

"Your dad caught wind that the five of you were heading off to Venom, and seeing how dangerous it is and how I know this planet like the back of my hand, he sent me to help you out. You'll need me if your cartographer is having a nervous breakdown up there."

"Huh…well, if Dad send you, then I guess it's okay."

"And this implies that you would be angry if it I was helping you out of my own free will?"

"On to important things, let's go!"

The four ships began flying out over the ocean, with the team listening intently on what Oikonny had to say (yeah, I'm just gonna keep calling him that. Everyone does.)

"If I remember correctly," he started. "This is where Fox and Falco took down Emperor Angler."

"Who's that?" asked Marcus.

"This big fish…thing that my uncle created. After the first Aparoid invasion, they started on a conquest to take over the entire Lylat System."

Of course!

"So they basically blasted him to pieces, right?" Damalgo asked.

"More or less, but hey. It seems that a certain rule has been broken too many times in this last little while for it to matter anymore."  
"What rule?"  
"If you're dead, you're supposed to stay dead."

"Hint, hint, Aparoids…" Marcus thought sourly.

The ships continued to cruise along, rising out of the way when several Aparoids shot up out of the sea and gave chase. Each of them swerved off in different directions to split the group apart before looping back in to deliver the coup-de-gras in the form of a smart bomb…all except Oikonny who couldn't seem to get them off of his tail.

"Bah! Persistent little pests, aren't they?" he growled.

Coyote sighed.

"Still a basket case even when I'm not in Star Wolf, eh, Andrew?" she muttered as she delved toward Oikonny and blasted the Aparoids away.

"Expecting some kind of thanks, O'Donnell?"

"No. I know you're too full of yourself to even think of it."

"Oh, and like you'd know any better, you silver furball."

Normally no Lylatian would be offended by a petty insult like that, but Coyote began to her blood pressure start to rise again as her anger built up. Without warning, she jerked her steering console off to the side and slammed into Oikonny's ship with it.

"HEY, EINSTEIN! I'M ON YOUR SIDE!" he yelled.

"Oh, you want another one?" Coyote seethed. "Happy to oblige, you monkey fuck!"

Marcus steered his ship between the _Iron Maiden _and the _Prime Ape _before the former could attempt to do anymore damage.

"Coyote, calm down." he said sternly.

"Get out of my face, Mark!"

"Calm. Down."

Marcus' voice echoed in Coyote's ears, and she felt herself return to the neutral emotion she'd had before. That neutral emotion quickly turned to alarm upon realizing what she had just done. She said nothing, but inside she felt the worst turmoil she had ever experienced. Something was undoubtedly wrong with her, and she knew that the negative effects of her encounter with Kursed were rapidly starting to outweigh the positives.

What either of them failed to know was that it was just about to get worse.

"Agh! Goddammit!" Damalgo cried.

"Al, what is it?" Marcus asked.

"It's that stupid noise again! It's hurting my ears!"

"I don't hear anything."

"Well, I hear it, and it's driving me crazy!"

The noise kept building up in Damalgo's head as though someone had a siren pressed right against it. Just when he was about to squeeze his eyes shut and start slamming his head on the dashboard like a maniac, the noise stopped. He sat up.

"Wha…what in Grimm's name is going…"

"Psst. Al."

"What?"

Marcus, Coyote, and Oikonny all raised their eyebrows.

"We didn't say anything." Coyote replied.

"Huh?"

The young Sharpclaw was initially confused beyond his comprehension, but after calculating the scenario in his head for a few seconds, he got a less than satisfying result.

"Oh, shit!"

The noise went from buzzing to a voice in his head.

"Damalgo…tell me something. Are you angry that Marcus got to kill General Scales and you didn't?"

"Leave him alone, you bitch!" Marcus barked

Kursed didn't listen.

"Doesn't it make you angry that you couldn't do anything to protect your parents?"

Instead of convincing Damalgo to turn against his comrades or anything along those lines, her words instead seemed to be driving him into a nervous breakdown.

"Shut up….shut up…leave me alone…"

"AL, WATCH OUT! YOU'RE HEADING STRAIGHT FOR THE WATER!" Coyote screamed.

Damalgo couldn't hear Coyote or see what she was talking about. He had squeezed his eyes shut and was now banging his head against the metal frame of his ship to try and drown out the steadily building noise echoing in his ears. He didn't care what was happening. He didn't even care about the mission anymore. He just wanted every little sound in his head to shut up and stop tormenting him.

Just as the _Bonesetter _was about to go headlong under the toxic surface of the sea, Marcus reached out with his mind and yanked open its cockpit before pulling Damalgo out like a rag doll. While he did this, he slammed a button above his head and opened up his own cockpit, placing the disoriented Sharpclaw inside once he had done so.

"It's okay, Al." he said softly. "Everything's gonna be fine."

The sounds faded slightly as Marcus' voice pierced through them. Though Damalgo couldn't speak thanks to the sheer shock of what had just happened and simply had to resort to slowly breathing in and out, Marcus could sense his heart rate beginning to slow down, thus signalling he was once again in a calm state of mind.

"Am I missing something here?" Oikonny asked.

"Yeah, you are." Marcus said. "And I'm not sure you want to know what it is."

"Kursed, right?"

"How in the f…what?!"

"Did Wolf mention having to save Panther during a run-in with your mother back in the day?"

"Uhh…yeah."

"I was there, and…it was a doozy. I had nightmares about it for two weeks."

"I know the feeling."

The rumbling footsteps began to get louder as they progressed along the bridge, making the team members all the more nervous.

"Uhh, Andrew?" Coyote asked. "Where exactly does this bridge go?"

"To Charon Falls." Oikonny replied. "Underneath it is where Emperor Angler made his lair during the Angler Blitz."

"But what's with the rumbling?"

"Oh, that? That would be…that."

He pointed down at the bridge. His target seemed to be a thirty-foot tall stone statue, but Coyote and Marcus where shocked when they saw that it was staring up at them.

"What is that thing?" Marcus demanded.

"A golem. Andross created it as a last defense in case anybody managed to get through the rest of the planet. The only way to get to the falls is through him."

"Well, that's just great. What's worse is that seems to be where the fourth beacon is."

As if on cue, the golem turned around and began running away from the ships as fast as it could.

"What's going on?" Coyote asked. "He's running away. Is he scared of us?"

"No. If he through the shield blocking off the falls, they're isn't going to be a way to reach them." Oikonny said.

"Sooo…" Marcus started.

"So get goin'!"

The three ships delved down to the surface of the bridge, stunning them still when there was a strange flickering above them. Before their very eyes, the atmosphere around them morphed and enclosed them into a rectangular tunnel with the golem sprinting away.

"After him!" Marcus yelled.

The three ships shot after the golem, which began swinging its fists at the air. Oddly enough, this forced several stone pillars out through the walls and up through the floor, forcing the team to turn their ships on their sides to squeeze through. Marcus slammed on his boost pedal, trying to get a good shot in before having to slam on the brakes when the golem swung its fist back at him.

"Don't get too close, Mark!" Coyote warned.

"Sheesh. No kiddin'."

"Of course, this would be much easier if we knew what his weak point was, and that would be easy to figure out if somebody hadn't gotten all…shit…gotta calm down."

Marcus flushed out the thoughts of Coyote's sudden mood swings and looked carefully at the golem. Whenever it moved its arms, the stones that linked them together seemed to be separating slightly went it bent its arms and then return to normal when it moved them back. The same went for the legs, and since the torso and head were made of the same kind of stone as the arms and legs, then perhaps…

"The whole body is weak to plasma fire!" he concluded. "Just shoot it, guys!"

They let loose, going after the torso first. After a few rounds of shots to it, the torso collapsed, revealing a metal frame underneath with a strange diamond-like formation.

"That looks like his core." Coyote said. 'But it doesn't look like we'll be able to harm it without getting rid of the other pieces."

"Alright, then." Oikonny said with a crack of his knuckles. "Let's do it!"

The three ships split off in different directions with Oikonny going for the left arm, Coyote going for the right arm, and Marcus going for the legs. The former two managed to blast away the left shoulder and right bicep respectively, but before they could go any further, the golem ran past several statues that were slashing vertically at the air with their arms. This forced them to swerve towards the center to avoid getting hit, yet Oikonny still got nicked and had one of his four wings sliced clean off.

"Y'see, that's what we in the mercenary business call 'overcompensating'." Marcus commented.

"You say that AFTER I get smoked? I'm grateful, really." Oikonny sighed.

"Don't get your tail in a knot. I'll deploy a wing repair droid."

Marcus swerved in front of Oikonny and opened the cargo hold. The little robot flew out and nestled on Oikonny's wing, getting to work on repairing it right away while the ship that released it continued to fire on the right foot of the golem until it crumbled away. The golem stumbled for a moment, allowing Coyote to shoot off the rest of its left arm before swerving over and taking care of the right arm. The golem was clearly not amused by this long-jumped a good few dozen feet ahead, bringing up several stone pillars to boot.

"Damn rock monster isn't making it easy for us, is he?" Coyote growled as she and the other two ships zipped between the pillars.

"Shouldn't be long now. We'll have him on the ground before we know it."

"Guys, he's gonna get through the shield in less than three minutes!" Chase suddenly yelled through the communicator. "Hurry the hell up!"

There wasn't any need to tell them twice. Marcus and Oikonny shot downward and took out the other foot as well as the...uhh….posterior. With the other pieces of the stone husk missing, the head turned red and began spinning rapidly, thus prompting Coyote to lock on to it and fire away with a charged shot. The head collapsed, and the core began glowing bright red, signally that it was now vulnerable. Unfortunately, the golem also sped up having no large chunks of stone holding it down.

"That son of a bitch is getting away!" Coyote growled. "We're not gonna be able to catch him in time!"

"Never give up!" Marcus barked. "Trust your instincts!"

The old McCloud family quote. Coyote had heard it before, though usually not from Marcus. At this time, however, she was seriously considering it.

"My instincts…"

Her blood pressure began to rise again at the thought of not being able to reach the beacon. Without a second thought, she slammed down on the boost pedal and ejected from her ship. She flew through the air like a bullet before activating her Repulsor Gauntlets just as she was about to slam into the golem. When she did, she tore through the core like butter and shot out the other side where her ship was waiting to catch her. The golem collapsed on the ground in a fit of sparks before falling apart the second it hit the ground, with the tunnel fading away afterwards.

"That was quite an experience." Oikonny commented.

"Yeah…you're not the one who has to cringe every time she does something like this." Marcus grumbled.

"What?"  
"What's she just did isn't natural. I'm half-Cerinian and even I can't do something like that unless I get really angry. And let me tell you: pissing me off to the fullest extent isn't an easy thing to do."

"So what's going on with her?"

"It has something to do with Kursed. Let's just leave it at that."

The three ships continued on and reached the enormous wall of vomit-coloured water cascading down into the sea. Marcus' ESP kicked in almost right away, and he felt it strongest directly behind the falls.

"PULL UP!" he hollered.

The three ships moved upward just as something shot out of the falls in an attempt to bite them. It fell into the ocean before suddenly sprouting up again thanks to what appeared to be wings attached to its head.

"That's him!" Oikonny exclaimed. "That's Emperor Angler!"

"Wait…the mastermind behind the Angler Blitz was THAT?!" Coyote sputtered. "Are you serious?! The fuckin' thing doesn't even have any arms!"

"He doesn't need arms to tear you to shreds!"

Look, you stupid bastard, you've got no arms left! Just a flesh wound.

If this big fish had ever been some sort of emperor, there was no indication of that now judging from how it was madly lunging at them. Marcus had to jam his steering control all the way to the right to keep from getting slammed into the rock wall behind the falls. Emperor Angler himself was hideous to say the least. His pupil-less eyes were a sickly green colour, not unlike the water he had emerged from. His wide mouth had several rows of razor-sharp teeth jutting from it, and as his name would suggest, there was a long strand coming out of his head with a dangling light hanging from it.

"So am I correct in assuming the little dangling ball that's screaming 'hit me' his weak point?" Coyote asked.

"I'd say so." Oikonny replied. "The trick is making it vulnerable."

Obvious weak points for the win!

Emperor Angler made the first move, opening his gaping maw and inhaling heavily. The three ships were steadily being sucked toward it, but sadly for him, Marcus knew this routine from Andross.

"Fire a smart bomb in there!" he yelled.

Oikonny was closest, so he was the one who followed this order. The big fish swallowed it, where it exploded within him and caused his weak point to start glowing. The second there was a visible light from it, Coyote locked onto it and fired away. The big fish shrieked and dove back under the water.

"Keep a sharp lookout!" Marcus warned. "There's no telling where he's gonna pop up."

The three ships continued to circle around, and as they did, Marcus heard Damalgo groaning in the back seat. He smirked.

"You finally snap out of it, pal?"

What Marcus couldn't see was that Damalgo's eyes had gone blood red and he was looking at him menacingly. Before the young McCloud could react, the Sharpclaw had his arm around his throat.

"Al…what the…ack!"

"Mark, what's going on?!" Coyote demanded.

Marcus felt his airway slowly being cut off by Damalgo's surprisingly strong arm, and the shock of the situation got worse when he saw him slowly bringing a claw up to his Adam's apple. Once Coyote noticed what was going on, she swerved over and slammed into the _Arwing III_, knocking Damalgo against the metal frame and sending his arm hurtling off Marcus. Marcus himself flipped around in his seat and wrenched Damalgo's eyes wide open before glaring at him.

"Calm. Down." he said with his voice once again echoing through the air.

The second Damalgo came to his senses was the moment Emperor Angler suddenly jumped out of the water with his mouth wide open. The _Arwing III_ somersaulted over him, leaving his backside wide open to a charged shot. He roared out in anger before firing a massive beam from his mouth.

"Okay, what is it with these huge monsters and giant laser beams?!" Coyote whined as she and the other two ships swerved out of the way. "Might as well give 'em googly eyes and have 'em go 'IMA FIRIN' MAH LAZOR!'."

"Wait…laser…" Oikonny thought out loud. "…that's it!"

"What is?"

"Let's lead him up the falls! I have an idea!"

Seeing as they didn't have too much of a choice, Marcus and Coyote followed the _Prime Ape _up the side of the mountain the falls erupted from. Emperor Angler had no intention of letting his prey escape, so he flapped his wings and started shooting up after them, chomping at them whenever he came close.

"Can I ask a perfectly legit question, though?" said Marcus. "Why is it that every single one of these ruler type baddies is just a floating head with occasional hands?"

"Beats me." Coyote said. "Maybe Andross had a lack-of-a-body fetish."

"That can't be right. I mean, if it's a fetish, how would he be able to…"

"Hey, let's just focus on the task at hand, kiddies." Oikonny interrupted. "Lord knows Mr. Fishy back there is."

They continued to fly up, having to swerve off in different directions when Emperor Angler slammed into the rock wall and sent numerous boulders tumbling down towards them. Unfortunately, Marcus had moved in the wrong direction and wound up scraping against another boulder, not only damaging his ship but forcing Damalgo to slam his head against the frame yet again. This time, he was showing obvious signs of brain trauma with a dazed look in his eyes and blood pouring down from his head.

"Shit…" Marcus grumbled. "If this keeps up, he's gonna be in a coma before we get back. Oikonny, how much further?!"

"Just up here, but you have to slam on your Mach 4 speed when I give the order. Ready?"

They were ready. They needed to be. Emperor Angler was right behind Marcus and had his mouth wide open.

"NOW!"

The three slammed the silver buttons over their heads and shot forward past what seemed to be a massive turret. Picking up their heat signatures right away, the turret took only a few seconds to charge up and fired right as Emperor Angler peeked over the cliff. The plasma bored a hole through his whole body, and before he even knew what had happened, he was falling back down to the water where he crashed underneath the surface.

"Alright…he's done." Oikonny said.

"Chase, send a recon probe to the Charon Falls." ordered Marcus. "The beacon is secured."

**Back aboard the **_**Great Fox…**_

"And with just another loosening of the bolts…there you go, little fella." Chase said conclusively.

While the team was down on the planet, Chase had brought Nightmare to the medical room in an attempt to remove the armour. As it turned out, the armour was wired directly into the internal organism's nervous system, explaining how it could move the arms with such ease and possibly why it attacked them. The one thing that was certain was that it made getting the armour off more difficult, but Chase still managed to do it.

At that moment, Coyote, Marcus, Damalgo and Oikonny came in.

"What's he doing here?" Chase asked looking at Oikonny.

"It's not an interrogation, buddy." Marcus said. "It's thanks to him we even got the beacon in the first place…hey, what're you doing?!"

"Getting the armour off. I had a pretty good idea of what I could do with it."

Coyote and Marcus prepared to fight when the squishy little organism that had been within the metal shell suddenly began woke up and began floating around the room.

"It's still alive!" Coyote growled, reaching for her gun.

"No, wait!" Chase exclaimed. "He only attacked you guys because he was wired into the suit and forced to do so. Watch. He's just curious."

As it turned out, it was. The little green blob floated around until it spotted Anna, who was still sitting in a chair and trying as hard as she could to calm herself down after what had happened. Nightmare floated down towards Anna and gently worked his way into her embrace, cooing like a newborn child. Anna looked down at him, snapping out of her hypnotized and frightened state, and softly touched his head. She smiled.

"He likes me…" she said.

"So more than one of you has gotten attacked by Kursed?" Oikonny asked.

The team turned to him.

"Yeah." Damalgo said. "Everyone but Mark and Chase."

"Precisely. If she's going after everyone but Marcus, who do you think is next?"

"…oh, shit."

Everyone turned to look at Chase who bit his lip slightly.

"Well…I know she's coming now. That was the thing. The reason she got you guys so bad was because you weren't prepared for it. I will be."

"Chase…" Marcus started.

"I'm a big boy, Mark. I drive a big boy hovercraft, I eat big boy burgers, I take big boy shits. I can handle her."

"It takes more than a big boy to outwit Kursed."

Marcus looked at the beacon.

"Alright, let's get this crap over with."

He slammed his hand down on the beacon and away went the visions. He was seeing through the eyes of someone who seemed to be an average-sized teenager and was looking at Kursed. Standing next to Kursed was a blue-furred and tribal-dressed woman who had a blade to a man's throat.

"**I knew you would come back…I just hoped it wouldn't be in my lifetime…"** the man panted.

"**Father!"** cried the girl that Marcus had the perspective of. **"Let my father go!"**

Kursed ignored her and became whispering in the man's ear.

"**Sorry, Sabre. A girl's gotta look out for her best interests."**

The man looked up at the girl again.

"**Aileen! Run!" he hollered. "Warn Hephaestus!"**

Kursed smirked as she nodded at the woman standing next to her.

"**Good-bye, brother."**

The woman's blade cut through the man's neck, pushing through until his head fell clean off.

"**FATHER!" **the girl screamed.

The vision faded away. Marcus gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. So many questions were welling up in his subconscious. Who was that girl? Where had that taken place? One thing was certain, however. Kursed had just taken family away from an innocent child.

"She killed him…right in front of her…" he growled.  
"Who?" asked Coyote."

"…let's find that last beacon. The sooner we kill this bitch, the better."

_You all know this is gonna set us up for some pretty intense shit later on, don't you? _

_If you remember the poll I had set up a month back, I asked which story you guys wanted me to do next. After getting only three votes for the same story, I pretty much knew that you guys would just want another Star Fox story, and I'm more than happy to provide one. _

_However, I actually have two ideas for new Star Fox stories, and they both take inspiration from two different works. I'm not going to say what works those are, but if you float on over to my profile, you can vote on which of the two stories you want first. I'll do them both eventually, but for now, there can be only one. Now then, time to work on said intense shit!_

_And I have a question: do I make the characters cuss too much?_


	13. 12: Less of a Battle and More of a War

CHAPTER TWELVE

**Less of a Battle and More of a War**

**March 5****th****, 2057**

**Zephyr Hinterlands, Planet Katina**

The last time Marcus had been on Katina had been three years ago. He remembered the horrible sight of Katt taking a grenade explosion for Falco and nearly dying because of it, but he also knew that their new enemy could cause a lot worse than a few shrapnel injuries. What was different from that mission was the time. Back then they had gone there at about two in the afternoon. Now they were crawling through the short grass at near-midnight with only the stars above to light their way…and the brightly-lit base, but what the hell do I know? I'm just the narrator.

The mission was simple: Aparoids had invaded a nearby defense facility, and the Cornerians had to get it back. While Marcus, Damalgo, and several dozen soldiers from the Husky unit (including Anna's father Bill) were crawling through the grass and trying their hardest not to make any sort of noise, the rest of the team (except Chase, who was still aboard the _Great Fox _putting some finishing touches on an upgrade) and the Greyhound unit (including Commander Dane) were flying silently in through the other side.

"This is far enough." said Bill, raising his hand and clenching it into a fist. "Everyone stop."

They halted and stayed perfectly still. Marcus could see several Aparoids crawling around on the outside walls. Getting in was going to be difficult. Thankfully, that's what the fleet coming in from the other side was for. The Aparoids were thrown into a mass confusion when fifty ships suddenly came diving down out of the clouds and blasting them off their posts.

"There's the diversion!" Bill shouted. "Charge!"

The soldiers in the grass stood up with a loud battle cry and charged toward the now-open gate. The second the Aparoids figured out what was going on, they delved down to the ground and tried to block off the Cornerian militia from entering, but it was to no avail with the son of the legendary Fox McCloud on their side. The soldiers charged forward, pulling down the triggers on their guns and firing bullets from every conceivable angle to keep the alien menaces from coming any closer to them. Marcus flipped over the head of one, impaling its throat with his staff before getting a perfect headshot on another in front of him.

"Chase! How's that Landmaster upgrade coming along?" he said into the comm.

"Almost done! Just gimme a few more minutes!"

Marcus flinched when he heard a loud buzzing noise from the other end of the line, though calmed himself down when he realized it was just that damn robot again.

"Come here, space! I have a secret for you!" ROB blared. "No, come closer…"

"What is it, ROB?" asked Chase.  
"…I'm the best. I'm the best at space."

"Of course you are."

"Hey, let…l-let's go to space!"

"We're in space every other day, ROB."

"Space."

"Yes."

"Chase, seriously." Damalgo said in an aggravated tone. "Get that guy fixed. Sure, it was funny the first few times, but now it's just making me wanna blow my head off."

"Dude, even I don't know what's wrong with him. And let me tell you: if I can't figure something out, you know you're fucked."

Putting the banter between the frog and the robot aside, Marcus strafed through the bullet fire until he found a suitable cover and crouched down behind it.

"Shit. This is starting to get even more blown out of proportion than it already was."

"Mark! Heads up!" shouted Coyote.

An airborne Aparoid had made an attempt to sneak attack Marcus from above, only for it to be blasted out of the sky when Dane came shooting in out of nowhere.

"Grey!" he shouted. "Take your unit and head inside! Try to flush them out as soon as you can.

"Got it, Dane!" Bill replied before turning to his troops. "Okay, boys! Let's take it to 'em!"

"Almost there, and…done!" Chase exclaimed. "Alright, Mark! I'm beaming the _Nightstriker_ down to you now!"

"_Nightstriker?_"

"Check it out!"

A brilliant beam of light rained down from the sky and struck a spot within the base. When the light faded, the Landmaster tank was sitting there and looking ready to go, but it looked slightly bulkier than it did before, not to mention having navy blue where the white usually was. Chase had certainly applied Nightmare's armour onto it, but it didn't really look like it was going to help matters much other than just providing some extra defense.

That was all beside the point that this spot was several hundred yards away from where Marcus was standing, and the path to it was blocked by dozens of Aparoids.

"Looks like ROB's not the only thing Chase needs to fix…" Marcus grumbled before sprinting off towards the tank as fast as he could.

Weaving in and out of the way of the bullet storm going on was hard enough for the young McCloud without there being giant bugs slashing or firing at him every few seconds. When one of the Aparoids stopped in his path, he ran up its arm and impaled his staff through the back of its neck before carrying on to slide between the legs of another and shoot it directly in the face.

With the _Nightstriker_ down on the ground, Chase piloted out of the _Great Fox _and flew down to the ground. The last place he wanted to be if (or even when) he was attacked by Kursed was up there with only the malfunctioning ROB to keep him company ("Space space space space"). Just like Marcus had thought before, Chase was trying his best to show that he wasn't afraid of what could possibly happen to him. That said, there wasn't really much that scared him, but he knew she'd figure something out. If she could scare someone like Anna and cause someone like Peter to slip into delirium, there was certainly a possibility she'd tap into his subconscious mind just to see what would get at him the most.

"Just gotta prepare myself, I suppose." he mumbled as he zipped to the right, locked onto a gang of Aparoids and let loose with a smart bomb.

Anna and Coyote paired up and shot down several more Aparoids, with Coyote ejecting and slitting the throat of one for good measure.

"Hey, cousin." she said upon landing back in her ship. "You okay?"

"I…I'm fine. I've shaken it off."

"You were screaming like a banshee. You don't really expect me or anyone else to just shrug that off, do you?"

"I'm okay…"

Anna steadily smiled at looked over at the _Slip Strap_.

"Chase made sure of that."

Marcus cartwheeled out of the way of another huge blast and was nearly at the _Nightstriker_ when his radar along with everyone else's blipped, indicating that a foreign vessel had entered the vicinity.

"Great…" Marcus groaned. "Star Wolf in three, two, one."

"Who could it be?" chuckled a suave and deep voice.

In came the Wolfen christened the _Black Rose _with its pilot Panther Caroso behind the steering control looking as smug as ever.

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say…" Marcus started.

"Wolf caught wind of the assault and told me to help you out. Do you need it?" Panther asked.

"Seeing how Oikonny actually was some help back on Venom, I'll say sure…but who's your friend?"

The friend in question piloted another Wolfen that looked identical to the _Black Rose _in several ways save for overall size and blaster shape, this one titled the _Chica Demonio_. Marcus wasn't exactly fluent in the other two languages of Corneria (Spanish and Japanese), but he did know that this loosely translated to "Demon Girl" (I wouldn't know either because I don't speak Spanish, which I attribute to my being Canadian. Google Translate for the win).

He couldn't see the pilot, but was surprised to find his question answered by a soothing Latino voice.

"Name's Sierra Banderas, sweetheart." she said coyly. "Nice to meet you, too."

"Well, well, Caroso." Bill smirked. "You finally got yourself hitched, huh?"

"You bet he did, and he couldn't ask for anyone better, could he?"

Panther chuckled.

"Certainly not, darling."  
"So is she a member of Star Wolf or is she just tagging along?" Marcus asked.  
"Not like you need to know that."

The _Iron Maiden _swooped in over Marcus, the latter of whom could see Coyote giving a hand single that translated to "Private comm line". Marcus switched the channel on the line so that only he could hear her.

"She's a stripper."

They switched the channels back before anyone noticed. Marcus smirked.

"Y'know, somehow that doesn't surprise me. Ah, well. At least he'll stop trying to get with my mom…right?"

With the introductions out of the way, Panther and Sierra swerved off to one side with the former charging up his insanely powerful Zapper Cannon and letting loose to down five flying Aparoids in a single blast. The latter charged up her laser, but instead of shooting, she barrel-rolled and encased her wings in the plasma as she slammed them into the giant bugs, sending them careening away.

"Watching you kill these sons of bitches like this is just incredible." Panther said seductively.

"I should say the same for you, baby." Sierra giggled.

"Oh, great." Chase groaned. "You're one of those couples that take public displays of affection to the next level. Just what we needed when we're in a freakin' firefight."

Putting the PDA aside, Marcus continued running towards the _Nightstriker _and was nearly there when a rather large Aparoid dropped in out of nowhere and let out a loud roar at him.

"Yeah, 'RAAARGH' to you, too, pal." Marcus said before sinking into a fighting stance with his staff at the ready.

The Aparoid moved only a few inches before three ships circled overhead.

"Take cover!" Dane yelled.

Marcus dove behind the nearest obstruction as Dane and the two troopers flying next to him bombarded the Aparoid with small missiles, sending it hurtling into the base wall nearby.

"Fine shooting, sir!" said Marcus.

"Likewise to your dodging, son!" Dane beamed in response. "Now get in that tank and show 'em what that kind of firepower can do!"

"With pleasure."

Marcus jumped into the cockpit and started the _Nightstriker _up. He pushed forward on the steering control and found that even though it was bulkier, it actually moved faster than it did before. Not to mention it had a better rate of fire, proven when Marcus began unloading giant globes of plasma onto the unsuspecting bugs, including locking onto a group that was chasing Sierra and downing them before they could cause any major damage.

"Hey, not bad, honey!" Sierra cooed. "Too bad I'm taken…too bad for you, that is."

"And you are how old?"

"Twenty-eight."

"…and Panther's in his late forties?"

"Yeah."

"…and you don't see a problem with that?"

"Nope."

"Alright. Suit yourself…wait, what's this?"

Marcus had noticed a small button to his left that had a button labelled "emergency use only"…now what do most arrogant heroes normally do when they see something like that? Needless to say, our blue-furred hero did exactly what you think he'd do with it, shocking him when the cockpit began to compress in on him.

"Hey, what the f…" he started.

"Don't move, Mark!" Chase said excitedly. "It's just strapping you in."

"For what?!"

Marcus felt something lock onto his arms and legs as he found himself seemingly in a standing position while he could still see out the blast shield, what was strange was that he was now about twenty feet off the ground. As he moved his hands, he spotted two large metal arms perform the exact same movements in front of him.

"It's just like Tyler said, Mark." Chase said with a smug grin. "Giant mechs are friggin' awesome!"

Marcus smiled with joy. He'd always dreamed in his childhood of driving a giant mech after watching that Earth cartoon _Transformers_ and the three live-action movies based off of it (two of which he thought were really cool, one he thought was just loud noises and special effects for the sake of loud noises and special effects). The fact that Chase had turned the Landmaster into something like that was just incredible and exhilarating. As Marcus moved his leg, the mech's leg moved as well. As Marcus turned his head, the robot did the same.

"Oh, hell fucking YES!"

This would be the part where you turn on "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath.

Marcus loved his legs quickly, causing the _Nightstriker _to run forward. As he threw out a punch at a large Aparoid, his giant robot cage did the exact same thing and sent the Aparoid careening away.

"Boom, baby! It's about to get hot in this joint!" Marcus cheered.

"Now THAT'S a sweet ride!" Anna said with an excited expression.

Marcus felt deeper into the arm sockets and realized that there were rings for each hand that he could slip his fingers into; two on the right and one on the left. Pulling on the one on the left, a small turret on the mech's arm began firing off at a very fast rate, allowing Marcus to clear off some of the Aparoids on the battlements above. The first one on the right was the standard plasma cannon, and the second one on the right was his smart bomb launcher.

"Okay. Time to kick things into high gear and flush these bastards out!"

"Mark!" called Bill. "We need to get inside the base and do a clean sweep of the Aparoids but they're blocking our way in! Think you can come clear the way for us?"

"No problem."

The _Nightstriker _ran toward the Husky unit, locking onto the bogies behind Anna and taking them down with a well-aimed bomb while it was at it. Marcus swung his arm and slammed it onto the ground when he came close to another patch of Aparoids, releasing a shockwave that sent them flying off in different directions. When he approached the spot where Bill had called him, a very large Aparoid suddenly appeared from behind a nearby battlement and grappled the _Nightstriker_ from behind. Though the mech was certainly formidable in attempting to escape its grasp, the Aparoid clung on even when Marcus rolled forward or smashed the bug up against the wall.

"Piece a' shit, GET OFF ME!"

"Hang on, Mark!" Damalgo said. "Corneria's only archer to the rescue."

As it turned out, Damalgo had positioned himself on top of a battlement and had dug out the last weapon that anyone would expect him to use in this situation: his old bow from his time on Sauria.

"You can't be serious, Sharpclaw." said Panther. "You really think a puny weapon like that is going to kill a giant bug in one shot?"

"You ever see Hawkeye in _The Avengers_?"

"No."

"Then shut up and let me concentrate."

He loaded a single arrow up and aimed carefully. He breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth before pulling the string back as far as it would go without breaking.

"Okay…both eyes open. One swift stroke, no hesitation." he whispered as he let the arrow fly.

The small beam of iron and wood cut through the air at a breakneck pace until it reached the giant Aparoid, piercing the side of its head in an instant.

"Bullseye!" the Sharpclaw cheered.

"Hm…I stand corrected." Panther said. "Carry on."

The Aparoid fell limp on the ground and Marcus aimed his mech's right arm.

"Take cover, boys!" he yelled.

The Husky unit got out of the way as Marcus rained hell down on the bugs blocking them. With them out of the way, Bill's unit carried on inside.

"Okay, boys." he said. "Stay close and keep a sharp lookout."

"Man, this shit reminds me way too much of _Aliens…_" one of the younger soldiers said nervously.

"It'll be okay, rookie. Just keep your eyes peeled for any movement and shoot on sight."

As the Husky unit moved further into the base, the _Nightstriker _was grabbing Aparoids out of the sky and pummeling them into the ground or blasting them down with a charged shot or several turret blasts. Another large Aparoid came at Marcus from the front, which he simply grabbed and performed a pile-driver, severely shaking the ground upon impact.

"Easy there, Mark!" Chase laughed. "She may not be delicate, but you're gonna dent the frame if you do that!"

"You shittin' me? I'm having too much fun to really care!"

He wasn't having enough fun for the tingling in the back of his head to go unnoticed. She was coming…but where? No one seemed to be reacting strangely, especially not Chase. Marcus said nothing, not wanting to scare anyone who had already been afflicted by Kursed, but he stayed alert. He had to. Otherwise someone was in for a cold night in hell.

The foot soldiers led by Bill had gone through the base for several minutes, scanning every possible nook and cranny for any sort of movement, but there was nothing. Once they got to what appeared to be the heart of the base, they found something that most of them were hoping never to see, let alone see in action.

"Holy shit…" said the rookie who had made the crack about _Aliens_. "Is that…"

"Yeah, Avery." Bill said solemnly. "It's a hydrogen bomb."

Then came the voice. Marcus heard it and knew all at once that this whole thing was nothing but a trap. Kursed was going to kill again in the worst way possible.

"So glad you could make it, boys." she chuckled. "And to think that the party has even started. In fact, why don't we kick it off with a bang…quite literally. Best of luck to you."

Bill had seen in shock that the bomb had a timer on it, and once the voice had faded, it had begun counting down from five minutes.

"Oh, God, no!" he screamed. "EVERYBODY FALL BACK!"

"Grey!" Dane shouted. "What's going on?!"  
'It's a trap! There's a nuke in here and it's gonna go off in five minutes!"  
"Sweet Jesus H...all units! Fall back and don't stop flying until we're out of here!"

Every ship that was still outside U-turned and shot away as quickly as they could. Lylatian hydrogen bombs had blast radii that were known to cover at least three square miles, so they had a lot of flying to do if they were going to get out of there in time. What concerned Marcus the most, however, was Bill and his unit's escape. It had taken them well over five minutes to get to where they were, and even running all the way back wouldn't give them enough time…unless…

"Anne!" Marcus yelled. "Track Bill's location in the base!'

"What?! But…"

"Just do it! This is your father we're talking about!"

That wasn't to say Anna wasn't scared for her father's safety. What she feared was not being able to get a single on him through the walls of the base. Nevertheless, she flipped a few switches and began trying to get a lock on Bill's communicator. She started sweating in nearly in an instant and when it seemed like it didn't work…

"Got it! It's coming up on your radar now!"

The spot showed up on Marcus map and he ran to it.

"Panther! Shoot this spot with your Zapper!" Marcus ordered.

"You got it!"

The blue beam of plasma slammed into the steel frame of the base. Not enough to melt it, but enough to weakn it and allow the _Nightstriker_ to punch right through the ceiling.

"Everybody in the cargo hold! Now!" Marcus shouted to the bewildered soldiers.

They didn't think twice about it and began climbing the mech's arm until they dropped into the expanded cargo hold.

"Please tell me this thing has rocket thrusters, Chase."

"Yes! By your left thigh!"

Marcus hit the button his knee. Sparks flew from the _Nightstriker_'s feet before it raised its arms like a JACK robot (think _Tekken_) and flew high into the air, following the still escaping fleet.

"Phew…" Bill sighed. "I'm never doing anything like that again."

It was still quite crowded in the cargo hold, but not so much that Bill couldn't see everybody.

"Sound off!" he ordered.

He heard a name called out working backwards according to rank, from Corporal York to Sergeant Jefferson to…

"Hang on…where's Private Avery?!"

A panicked voice echoed on everyone's communicators and filled them to the brink with pure dread.

"What the…who the fuck are you?" Avery shouted.

The bone-chilling giggle of Kursed replied.

"A sign that you might wanna start running."

"Wha…AAAGH!"

"AVERY!" Bill shouted over what sounded like a great weight collapsing on the other end.

Before anybody could react, Dane turned his ship around.

"Commander, where are you going?!" Chase shouted.

"No soldier gets left behind, especially not a rookie. Get that transporter do-hickey ready to warp Avery out of here, Toad!"

"…affirmative, sir."

Dane piloted back down into the base and jumped from his ship instantly, readying his rifle.

"Private!" he called. "Where are you?!"

"Commander…over here…help me!"

The scene was even worse than Dane had imagined. A beam had collapsed from the shaking ceiling and had pinned Avery to the ground, so much so that it was impossible for him to get out on his own.

"Hold on, son! You're gonna be alright, but you've gotta help me with this."

Dane grabbed the beam, and Avery tried the best he could to do the same.

"Alright! Now push!"

The two men pushed as hard as they could, struggling slightly before the beam steadily came off and gave Avery time to wriggle free.

"Good work. Can you walk?"  
"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Good. Let's vamoose!"

The two turned to get back through to the exit, only to meet with Kursed.

"Hello, boys. Fine evening for a nuclear disaster, isn't it?"

"Who in Grimm's name are you?"

"Not important. Tell me, Commander Dane: are you afraid to die?"

He knew what she was getting at, rushing forward and roundhouse-kicking her aside before turning to Avery.

"Go! Now!"

Avery didn't want to leave Dane behind, but the tone in his superior officers voice told him he had no other choice. He kicked off of Dane's ship and climbed up out of the hole just in time for the _Great Fox _to lock onto him and beam him up to its bridge.

Dane smiled, but the relief turned to anguish when he felt a harsh pain in his lower body. He crumpled to the ground with a loud scream before looking up at Kursed. Kursed herself was smiling and holding something that made Dane sure that this was it.

"Better shake a leg, Dane." she said before smirking. "Heh. I crack myself up sometimes."

Kursed vanished and Dane's severed leg dropped onto the ground. He looked up at the sky above him as the base steadily began to quake more and more. Despite the calamity going on, he couldn't help but realize how beautiful space really was.

"With the stars shining down on me like angels from Heaven…I couldn't ask for a better way to die."

"Commander, what's going on?!" Marcus yelled. "Respond!"

"Are you all out of range of the blast?" Dane asked.

"Wha…yes, but…"  
"Good. Then I guess it's goodbye."

"No! You can't give up! Your family's at home waiting for you!"

Dane smirked.

"I never had any children, Marcus, and my wife died in the Angler Blitz. Don't feel bad for me. God's taking me to see her now. Just promise me that you and everyone else is going to stop that woman at whatever she's trying to accomplish."

"Dane…I will"

"My friends…thank you."

The last minute on the bomb ran out, and a blinding light erupted from the horizon.

"COMMANDER!" Marcus screamed.

Nothing but static. The light cleared, leaving behind a devilish mushroom cloud slowly rising into the sky as the debris from the base rained down to the ground. Everyone looked on in shock and despair at what had happened. Commander Dane had just committed the noblest act any man could ever have done. He had been begging for death for so long and this was how the reaper chose to take him out of the galaxy he loved so much.

"This battle needs to end." Bill said. "We can't let anything like this ever happen again."

"This isn't a battle anymore, Bill." Marcus said, his heart nearly bursting with anger. "It's a motherfucking war!"

* * *

Dane's funeral was held a few days after the incident. He was honoured as a hero who gave his life to save another. That other life didn't show up to the funeral or any battle after that. Bill concluded that Avery had been overcome with guilt and had gone AWOL as a result.

While normally this would be considered a federal offense that could be punished with up to three years in prison, Bill, his platoon, and even Peppy said that they would have done the same.

_Let me tell you: it really hurt writing down Dane's death. I consider myself extremely sensitive, so when a character that I've grown to love dies, it feels like a loss (looking at you, "Skyfall"). Also, while I'm indifferent to Call of Duty, that nuke thing was inspired by one of the missions from Modern Warfare 1 because of just how effective it was. It still shocks me just how far we're willing to go to set things straight in the world._

_Coming out of the depressing bit, I've gotten some votes on the poll I've got on my profile, but both selections are currently tied. Therefore, if you love this story and you haven't voted already, I'd really appreciate it if you go check it out ("He's whoring again!"). It'll be worth it, I promise._

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare- _"Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "_Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

_Coyote versus the shadows- _"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson

_The star Lylat- _Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime

_Marcus and Fox- _"Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

_Fox versus Kursed- _"Du Hast" by Rammstein

_Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- _Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)

_The Nightstriker- _"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath

_The death of Commander Dane- _"Mad World" by Gary Jules


	14. 13: The Prison Planet

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

**The Prison Planet**

**March 9****th****, 2057**

**In orbit above Planet Kew**

In all their years, this form of the Star Fox team knew practically nothing about the planet Kew. It wasn't on any official map of the Lylat System (likely because it wasn't technically in the Lylat System as it was floating just outside of it) and nobody ever really seemed to talk about it. Even obscure planets like Sauria and Papetoon were brought up every once in a while, but never this planet. Just why was that?

I guess you want them to find out, huh?

Regardless of either or not they knew about it, this was apparently where the fifth and final beacon was, so its existence had to be acknowledged. Without even seeing what was going on down there, Marcus could tell that Kew was not exactly the utopia that a lot of people claimed Corneria to be. It seemed to radiate a strange misty gray hue from its surface, not to mention that with all the thought waves of the other teammates pouring into his conscience, the planet was completely silent.

"And…got it." Chase announced. "Planet Kew. Named on August 3rd, 2006. Contained settlements for thirty years before they were all torn apart in the Angler Blitz. Features a mega-prison that's been holding about 1,000 of the galaxy's most notorious criminals since 2041, including serial killer Lolita Ferdinand."

"They didn't give that bitch the death penalty?" Marcus asked.

"The death penalty hasn't been used for over thirty years, Mark, and they caught her only about ten years ago."

"What does she look like, anyway?"

Chase booted up an image. As her pseudonym might have suggested, she was dressed in a gothic Lolita type attire that made her look cute, but at the same time insanely creepy.

"What exactly did she do?" Marcus asked.

Chase shrugged.

"More like what DIDN'T she do. Armed robbery and drug deals in her teenage years, and about sixteen murders and eleven rapes in her adult years, with the rapes all being with guys as young as fifteen."

"Good stuff."

"A real shame, too. She apparently got straight-As in high school."

"Yeah, but if she was really that smart, she wouldn't be a criminal, now, would she?"

Coyote took a good looked at the blueprint of the prison and frowned at it.

"I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say that most of the guys we've apprehended are in there, too."

"Looks like it. We go in there and we're gonna be greeted with a bunch of thugs seeking vengeance."

Anna looked at the diagram in pure dismay.

"Can you really blame them? I honestly can't believe that they were just left on this planet like this…left to just tear each other apart to survive."

"It was either this or bring back capital punishment." Coyote said solemnly. "Pick your poison."

Anna fiddled with a few switches on the map of the planet and sighed when the beacon's location popped up.

"Figures. It's on the top floor of the prison.

"Shit…" Marcus growled. "…alright. Let's go."

The team proceeded towards the bridge, only for Coyote to yelp out in pain and keel over, clutching her stomach.

"What's wrong?" Anna asked sternly.

Coyote stood up nearly instantly with a strained face, but let out an exhale and relaxed.

"I'm fine…let's go."

Marcus made sure that the others were out of the room before he turned to Chase.

"Please for the love of God tell me you've got that serum ready."

Chase nodded and held up a small vial with a red liquid inside.

"Yep. These antibodies oughta do the trick."

"Good. Inject her the second we get back."

"It's gonna be really painful for her…and for you to watch."

"I don't care. She's better off not going into a murderous rampage every other minute I'm around her. Get her fitted and injected as soon as we get back."

"Got it. A lack of super powers is worth it to keep any humanity you have left."  
"Exactly why Spider-Man ditched the Venom suit."

**Approaching the planet…**

The five ships flew downward through the Kew's atmosphere with each of their pilots eagerly awaiting what may have been lying in wake for them. All five kept a sharp lookout for any sign of movement, and it wasn't untila suddenly exclamation from the _Bonesetter_ that anyone reacted with shock.

"What the hell is that?"

The object in question was a small space fighter drifting by. Its wings were stretched outward like the wings on a bird, and it had the same colouring as the team's own ships.

"Is that an Arwing?" Coyote asked.

"Looks like it…Chase. Gimme a scan real quick." Marcus said.

Chase locked onto the ship with his front-facing camera and ran through the files on all ships that were registered for use on Corneria. He managed to find it buried very deep in them.

"Arwing model X-502. Codenamed the _Cloudrunner_." he concluded. "Pilot ID…Krystal?"

"Of course." Marcus said. "Let's not forget that my mother was once a bounty hunter…a very sadistic and cruel one, apparently, but a bounty hunter nonetheless…I've known that for three years and I still can't accept that fact."

"Who could expect you to?"

Taking their attention away from the abandoned _Cloudrunner_, the team continued downward towards Kew. Upon descending into the troposphere, they could see that there were cumulonimbus clouds peppering the sky, making it look like a severe storm could kick up at any minute.

"There should be an area where we can land somewhere nearby." Anna said.

"Guys," Damalgo started. "Call it a reptile's intuition, but I'm getting this really weird feeling that we're being watched."

"Well, no shit, Sherlock."

"Not by Kursed. Someone down on the planet…"

"Or maybe right behind you." sneered a cold voice.

The team turned and prepared to fire, only to realize (shocker) that it was another Wolfen, this one christened the _Rainbow Delta_.

"Leon?!" Coyote sputtered. "I can understand Oikonny and Panther coming to our rescue…as well as Panther's overtly flirtatious girlfriend, but why you?"

Leon chuckled.  
"Let's say I owe your father more than I can repay."

"Right." Marcus said. "Anyhow, let's head down there. Keep your wits about you, everyone."

Within a few minutes, the ships hovered just over the surface of the planet as their pilots jumped to the ground. The Star Fox team had dressed lighter for this mission, wearing either a muscle shirt and cargo pants or a tank top and skinny jeans depending on their gender and each pulling out a weapon they specialized in.

"Let's move out, but everybody stay close…that means you, too, Leon." Marcus said.

"What, is Peter off hitting on some girl?"

Marcus bit his lip.

"Might not wanna mention Peter right now." Anna whispered. "He's still really pissed about what happened."

"Strong but sensitive type. Got it."

With their weapons at the ready, the group proceeded through the ashy forest. Every one of them anxious save for Leon, but considering he was so world-worn, who could expect him to feel jittery about anything? It seemed like the trees themselves were moving, even managing to jump-scare Anna when she thought she saw something moving behind them.

"God, there's too many freakin' trees on this planet." Chase said.

Anna jumped again when she was certain that she saw motion a good distance away.

"Did you guys see that?" she panted.

"It was just a bird, Anne. Stop whining." Coyote said sourly.

"How can I? There's nobody around, we're on our way to a prison where serial killers are locked up…"

"And more trees…" sighed Chase. "Getting really bored here."

They continued to walk, with Damalgo coughing slightly after walking for a good five minutes.

"You alright?" Leon asked.

"Yeah. I think I might be allergic to dust or something."

"Where are you from, anyway?"

"Sauria. I'm a Sharpclaw."

"Don't you folks usually talk like…"

Here Leon adopted a heavy voice that sounded almost like the a certain bald-headed mercenary who enjoys eating sandwiches…excuse me, sand-VITCHES.

"Wake up! Somebody coming!"  
"That's only the dumbasses that got hired as General Scales' underlings. Funny how having a dangerous job seems to deteriorate your intelligence back there."

"And more trees!" Chase said in an annoyed tone.

Marcus looked all about, his thoughts still fixated on what had happened a few days ago.

"She actually did that…she detonated a hydrogen bomb and tried to take us all down in the explosion. What's wrong with her?! Who the fuck does she think she is…and why am I talking to myself?!"

"AN' MOAR TREEZ!" Chase suddenly shouted.

"Dammit, will you knock it off?!" Coyote retaliated.

"Ah, screw you, that was funny!"

Marcus spotted something flashing just up ahead. Upon getting close enough to see it, he knew that there was a good reason few outsiders had come to the prison.

"Hold up! We've got a landmine!" he barked.

"A chain mine field by the looks of it." Chase muttered as he pointed to the large plain of metal circles lying in the grass. "Setting a single one off triggers the whole damn thing to go."

Chase bent down and looked at the blinking one carefully.

"This looks like the master mine. If I disable this one, the rest will become inactive, but…"

"But…what?" asked Coyote.

"It's gonna take me a while. Cover me… and do me a favour: don't look at me while I do it. It just makes things harder."

That's what she said.

The five others grouped around Chase and held their weapons at the ready in case something would try to sneak up on the young Toad. Despite them having him under lock-and-key so to speak and them having their backs to him so he could concentrate, the rest of the team still couldn't help but feel nervous. Chase hadn't disarmed many mines in his time, and if he screwed up, it would take all six of them out in a fiery explosion…of death.

In fact, as they watched Chase very slowly move his hands toward the wires with noticeable sweat seeping out of his pores, they thought for certain that…

"Done." he said, plucking a single blue wire free and making the blinking stop. "They're still volatile, though, so don't shoot them…oh, AN' MOAR TR…"

Here Anna slapped him across the face.

"Stop doing that! We were scared stiff for a minute there!"

"Ah, c'mon, Annie? You don't trust me with this stuff even though we've known each other for thirteen years?"

Anna was silent for a moment before leaning over and gently kissing Chase on the cheek, then returning to her serious demeanour. Chase simply smirked.

"That's better."

"You kids and your abusive relationships…" Leon muttered in an amused fashion.

They carried on, stepping carefully around the mines and eventually arriving at the mega-prison that seemed to rise out of the ground like a giant monolith…of death…that's redundant.

"Exactly how many floors are there in this building, Anne?" Coyote asked.

"Forty." she replied. "So yeah, the Lylat System isn't the utopia everybody makes it out to be."

They approached the door and gently eased their way inside. They found themselves in a room that resembled the police station back on Corneria, the only difference being that the lights barely worked, constantly flickering and sparking in an erratic pattern. That, and there was dirt and grime everywhere, a clear sign that nobody sane had been here in ages.

Anna examined the blueprint of the prison again.

"They really seemed to design this place without convenience in mind."

"How so?" asked Damalgo.  
"Well, there's only one elevator every five floors and they each only go that far. Maybe it was a safety precaution: to confuse the prisoners if they tried to escape. Taking the stairs would tucker them out in minutes."

"It gives us more of a reason not to split up." Marcus said. "Everyone ready?"

They didn't look like it, but they nodded nonetheless. Marcus nodded in response and kicked the door open to the containing area, which seemed to take up most of the building. The lights here flickered, too, not helped by the fact that they couldn't see the ceiling since there wasn't anything separating the floors: just numerous catwalks high above them that criss-crossed to several balconies up against the walls. Worst of all, practically everything they could see was a cell in the wall holding some very…interesting residents.

"This reminds me way too much of that movie _Dredd_." Damalgo said.

"Hm. Dirty, but not to the point of being considered disgusting, dilapidated but not to the point of being considered a wreck…I think they should let Anna spend some time here." Chase smirked.

Anna rolled her eyes.

"They wouldn't lock me in here even if I pulled a plunger out of my ass and went 'BAAAAAAH!'."

The second Anna made that noise, all of the prisoners became aware of the team's presence. While some of them ignored it and just went back to sleep, knowing trying to get out was pointless, others began banging on their cell bars and (for some reason) gnashing their teeth as soon as they saw where the sound had come from.

"Oh, will ya look at this?!" one of them shouted. "The little gang of mercenaries came to pay us a visit. I'm so touched."

"Hey, bunny girl! How 'bout a kiss?!"

"If it isn't Leon Powalski! Come to slit some more throats?"

"Please, stop tempting me." Leon grumbled.

"The first elevator's just over there." Coyote said. "Let's do this."

The six walked carefully into the elevator, where Marcus promptly hit the button for the fifth floor once they were all inside.

"So fill me in, kiddies." Leon said, leaning up against the wall. "What's all this about?"

"I believe you're familiar with Kursed." Marcus said.

"A little bit. Why?"

"Her head's gonna roll in a few days time."

"That's not what I meant. Backstory. C'mon, let hear it."

The team each took turns explaining parts of the story so far. They explained what happened at the F-Zero race, the missions on Solar and Venom, what had happened yesterday, and what Kursed had done to the team aside from Chase and Marcus.

"Sounds like my kind of woman." Leon said once they had finished.

"She'd sooner have you gutted and hanging from a bridge, but I wouldn't worry." Coyote growled. "She'll be on the market in the afterlife."

"So have any of you thought of just how you're going to put a stop to her?"

"We just told you," Chase said. "We're going to use the energy from the beacons to…"

"Again, not what I meant. That's how to find where she's hiding out, not how to kill her. Since you just told me she can…well, do all this crazy shit, what makes you think you can just walk up to her and put a bullet in her head?"

No one had any sort of logical answer. Maybe they had just been too consumed by rage after what had happened. They wanted her dead so badly that they hadn't had time to think of how they were going to do it. Realizing how stupid they had been, though, only served to make them angrier than they had already been.

"Let's just get the Goddamn job done and go home." Marcus seethed, gripping his staff even tighter.

The elevator stopped on the fifth floor, and the second the group stepped out and began heading across a catwalk to the next elevator, the intercom clicked on. They knew that things were about to go from unnerving to downright panic-stricken in seconds when Kursed's voice buzzed over it, yet somehow Marcus had secretly had a gut feeling this was going to happen.

"Ah, look who's here." she cooed. "I've been waiting for you, Star Fox."

"Why am I not surprised?" Marcus groaned.

"I hope you're prepared for a good time, because the party's just about to begin. Just need a few guests."

"…she wouldn't!"

Several loud buzzes began filling the giant room, echoing up through the dark air until they suddenly stopped.

"She would."

One by one, every single one of the cells flew open and the prisoners came pouring out. The second they saw the team, they all grew menacing looks on their faces.

"You are one sick fuck, you know that?" Marcus grumbled.

"I try. Enjoy the fun."

"I would consider fun to be kicking back with a good video game and what does it matter? She's gone again."

You know _Dead Rising_? How there's about eight hundred zombies coming at you from every possible direction? That's what this was like, with every prisoner charging towards the team, running up or down the stairs if they needed to.

"Are they just Lylatians now, Anne?" Marcus asked.

"...well, they were until they decided they wanted to kill us."

"That's what I thought. Everybody fire at will!"

It really was a bit unfair considering the team had guns and a variety of other items to help them, but that didn't stop them from unloading on the prisoners the second they came close. They were going to die of starvation at some point, so what was wrong with just putting them out of their misery?

Probably a lot of things, but I digress.

Grabbing Leon from behind did no good as he spun around and ran a knife he suddenly withdrew across the prisoner's throat, following up by stabbing another one directly in the chest and kicking him over the railing. Damalgo began loading up arrows into his bow and firing away at the prisoners as fast as he could, striking one with the bow when he got too close. With a quick slash, Coyote cut away at the prisoners in front of her right as she let out a cry of pain and keeled over again.

"Coyote, what's wrong?!" Marcus yelled.

"N-nothing…my stomach just hurts. I'll be fine, really."

"You don't look fine. You look like you're about to puke!"

"I said I'm fine! I…heads up!"

Marcus spun around just in time to slam his foot into the chest of the prisoner that had leaped headlong at him. While he was grateful that Coyote had managed to see that attack ahead of time, he was still unnerved by just how much worse her condition was getting. She looked like she was developing some sort of disease.

Coyote herself had felt her blood pressure rise the second her stomach cramped, thinking she was going to fly into a violent outburst again. What was happening was more than just some sort of possession. It was seeping deeper and deeper into her, grabbing at her very soul.

She felt it…a horrible feeling building up inside her…she felt fear. She felt fear to its fullest extent. What was happening to her, and how could it be stopped? That was what frightened her most: what if it couldn't be stopped? What if she ended up murdering someone she loved by accident? What if she ended up a soulless monster just like…her?

Marcus kicked away another prisoner before turning to the rest of the team.

"Head for the elevator!" he shouted.

With their guns still ablaze, the team ran towards the elevator to the tenth floor as quickly as they could. They just barely managed to squeeze inside amongst the dozens of hand grabbing at them. Right as the door was shutting, one of the prisoners got their hand in and grabbed Anna's ankle. Anna herself let out a loud shriek as she was pulled to the ground with her leg sticking straight out of the door, and another when she felt something very sharp dig into her leg. A quick shot from Chase's gun was enough to free her from the grasp of the prisoners and pull her leg through, letting the doors close and the elevator go up but also making her injury able to be seen by the team.

"Son of a bitch, that hurt!" she seethed, sucking in a quick breath and laying her hand gently on her wound.

"Let me see." Chase said, getting on his knees to get a good look at it. After a few seconds of inspection, his conclusion was this: "Good God, one of them bit you! They really have gone off their rockers out here! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I can shake it off."

"Can you walk?"  
"I'm fine, really. Just gotta put some pressure on it, that's all."

After Coyote took a headband out of her pocket and handed it to Anna, she tied it around her injury tightly enough that she could stand without it hurting too badly. It wasn't as though they could just beam themselves back to the _Great Fox _with the kind of radio interference in here that was even making Anna's map difficult to read properly, so it was like with that one episode of _Family Guy_: getting shot (or bitten by a lunatic) didn't get you out of there anymore…and yes, I did just make that reference. You mad, bro?

Oddly enough, it became even more like a zombie movie the second the door let them onto the tenth floor as the prisoners let out loud yells and charged at the team with their arms outstretched, seemingly immune to the fact that the team had weapons that could pump out about thirty tiny pieces of lead in a second. There was so much blood flying all over that Marcus could swear that his fur would turn purple if any more of it got on him.

Leon being an assassin-for-hire was relatively used to this kind of thing. The only thing he hated was the last moments. Just the look on a person's face when they realize that their life has been taken from him had disturbed him numerous times, and sometimes the words the spoke to him cut deeper than the bullet he put in them.

And what better moment for an evil spirit to strike than when a tough-as-nails fellow is feeling sentimental?

"Ah, Leon. We finally get to meet again."

Leon ignored the voice and kept firing, swinging his knife if the prisoners got even a hair too close.

"Oh, ignoring me, huh?" the voice scowled. "How heartbreaking. Let's see if this gets your attention."

All of a sudden, Leon heard another voice. It was a woman…a woman he knew all too well. She was crying out in pain…crying out his name. Crying out for him to save her.

"No…it's not my fault." Leon muttered to himself, clutching at his head. "I promised myself that I'd never feel guilty for it ever again!"

"So I have your attention, now?" Kursed mocked. "Good. How about a little more?"  
"Stop it! That's enough!"

"She's attacking Leon now?! Are you shitting me?!" Marcus said before running over to the distressed chameleon and grabbing hold of his shoulders. "Leon! It's just an illusion! Snap out of it!"

It didn't do any good. Leon kept thrashing about like one of the madmen that they were fighting, completely sucked into the hell that Kursed had made his thoughts into. Marcus had no choice to but to hold off the incoming prisoners just to keep Leon from getting hurt.

"Leon…" the voice cried. "Help me…Leon!"

"No…y-you have to hold on! Don't let go!" Leon said, several tears coming from his eyes.

It was happening. The thing he had been trying to suppress for so long was being exploited just to torture him. He, Leon Powalski, was at the mercy of someone who wasn't even a professional assassin, but rather a personal one. He remembered the horrible event like it was yesterday and saw it in every nightmare that he had ever had.

He saw her holding on for dear life dozens of feet above him. He saw her looking into his eyes and pleading for him to save her. He saw the flames of the slowly collapsing building begin to reach up and lick her fur, spreading across her whole body until she let out one final scream as the pain forced her to let go.

"AMY!" Leon cried, diving forward over the railing of the floor they stood on.

"Leon, you dunce!" Marcus hollered, diving after him and just barely managing to grab onto his tail.

"Let me go! I can save her!"  
"It's okay, Leon! It's in the distant past! Just let it go!"

Marcus was trying his best to pull Leon up, but with the middle-aged chameleon thrashing about to get loose and save the imaginary girl and three of the prisoners menacingly approaching him. With only one arm clutching Leon's tail, Marcus did his best to try and reach up towards his staff, but it was just barely out of reach as the prisoners lunged headlong at him…

…and went flying over the railing as several bolts of plasma came flying in out of nowhere.

"Heads up, kids!" yelled a voice from the elevator. "The cavalry's here!"

"Grandpa!" Anna cheered.

"Jeez, Peppy, about time you showed up!" Chase hollered over the noise.

Tell me about it.

Much to the team's surprise and joy, charging up the stairs came a large group of Cornerian militia, led by the one and only General Peppy Hare. The prisoners made a futile attempt at incapacitating this new threat to them, only to meet with their deaths when the militia's pulse rifles fired down on them, finally giving Marcus enough time to pull Leon back up. The old rabbit himself stooped down next to Marcus.

"You alright there?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Leon…he got attacked."

"I see. The last beacon's up on the top floor, right?"

"Yeah."

Peppy lifted his communicator to his mouth.

"Gentlemen, enter through the east wall."

Once he finished talking, a hole was blasted into the east wall of the prison with a small space fighter cruising down to where Marcus and Peppy stood.

"The rookie here will give you a lift to the 39th floor. The last one is just one giant cell to keep a certain someone from ever getting out. You head up there and get that last beacon. We'll take care of the mess down here."

Judging from how Chase brought up a random character we've never seen before, it seems that you have a faint idea of who Marcus will encounter. Nonetheless, Marcus nodded and hopped onto the ship's windshield, prompting it to raise higher and higher through the central shaft until it reached its destination. The young McCloud hopped off and saluted the soldier before turning towards the stairwell.

"Well, here goes nothin'."

He sucked in a breath and began to ascend the staircase. It was now that he realized that there were blue lights on the floor slowly leading the way up the stairs, hinting that the darkness would have been used to disorient whoever was up here. Sadly, this also made him more unnerved as he steadily opened the door leading into the massive room. The door behind him shut with a loud boom, echoing through the room before leaving behind complete silence.

Marcus took a few steps forward before he heard another noise.

"Marcus James McCloud, I presume." said a light and misty voice.

It wasn't the voice itself that bothered him. It was that it had rang out from nowhere. He hadn't sensed its source, either, opting instead to stand perfectly still and observe his darkened surrounding for any sign of movement.

"Yes." he answered. "And you must be Lolita Ferdinand."

The voice giggled. It sounded like a teenage girl, though there was no way she could be that young. Of course, he would be able to prove this if he could actually see what he was doing.

"Tell me, Marcus: what brings you here?"

"I don't want to fight you or anything, so let me just ask you something. Were you visited by…"

"A woman with violet hair who asked me to house part of her power for her?"  
"…oddly specific."

"But accurate, isn't it?"

Marcus took another step forward, noticing that he wasn't walking on concrete or steel anymore. Whatever was under his feet was relatively leathery and even somewhat bouncy. Upon thinking about it, he realized what was going on. This wasn't a cell he was standing in. It was a solitary confinement room. This woman wasn't just a criminal. She was either psychotic or pure evil, and judging from how she had raped elven underage boys, the latter seemed far more likely.

And it sounded like she wanted to go for number twelve.

"You sound so cute, Marcus…do me a favour and flick that switch over there so I can get a better look at you."

Marcus didn't want to abide by any sort of request from a criminal like this, but he did it anyway. Upon searching around look enough, he flicked the light switch. Then again, all it did was turn on some blue floodlights on the ground that still left the walls out of sight but at least illuminated the ground enough that he could see the outline of someone sitting in the corner with their legs crossed. He tightened his grip on his staff in case she tried anything funny.

"Oh, you're just as cute as you sound…come closer to me."

Odder still, Marcus obeyed, though very reluctantly. Lolita continued to sit, though the closest floodlight managed to illuminate her face enough that Marcus could see it, and what he saw disturbed him beyond belief. Not only did she look like a young teen, she looked like that cute girl that looks at you like she's going to kill you in your sleep if you refuse her advances. Not to mention she had an absurdly wide smile on her face that would put Jeff the Killer, the kuchisake-onna, or even the Joker to shame…and those three have Chelsea smiles!

Just as Marcus was considering backing off the second he saw how happy she was to see him, she stood up and began seductively walking towards him. Marcus bit his lip.

"Alright, look, lady. I'm just here to get that power out of you, so just cough it up or…however you'd get something like that out of your body and I'll be on my way."

"But don't you want to get to know me a little better? I mean, really. We've only just met, after all."

"I don't have time to hook up with strangers…shit, did I just say 'hook up'?"

"Why, yes, you did! In that case, this'll be even more fun than I thought."

"And she disappeared. Great."

Back below the 40th floor, the Cornerian militia was sweeping up the routine rather nicely, though they were all in for a shock when one of the prisoners clamped his jaws down on Coyote's arm. Her blood pressure skyrocketed, she clenched her teeth, let out the demonic reptile roar that she had done on Lylat, and before everyone's eyes, she grabbed the prisoner's neck and pulled his head clean off with his spine still attached. One of the younger soldiers cried out in shock upon seeing this.

"Get a hold of yourself, son!" Peppy barked at him.

"Sir…kinda hard to do when she just went Sub-Zero on that guy's ass, sir!"

Upon her blood pressure dropping back to normal, she dropped the head in terror and looked down at her hands.

"Oh my God…what's….oh, God!"

The stomach pain came back even worse than before, and her vision seemed to pulse with every heartbeat. Speaking of her heartbeat, she could hear it getting steadily louder and louder to the point where she wanted to yell at it to shut up. The second she opened her mouth to call for help, however, she wretched and a revolting black spew came shooting out of her mouth. She let out a pained groan and was unconscious before she even collapsed onto the ground

"Coyote!" Chase cried, rushing forward to catch her the second he saw her in pain.

He felt at her wrist and confirmed a pulse, but knew that whatever was in her was just getting even worse. He growled out "Son of a bitch" before he turned on his comm.

"Mark! Coyote had another spaz attack! She's unconscious!" he yelled.

"I'm a little busy here, Chase…there you are!"

Marcus roundhouse-kicked towards the area in which he thought he saw movement, but only struck thin air.

"Wait, Coyote's unconscious?!"

The second Marcus realized what Chase had said, he forgot all about the beacon and ran straight for the door. He all of a sudden didn't care about stopping Kursed. In fact, he even forgot why he was there for a moment. He just knew that there was no way he could finish the mission knowing Coyote was in danger.

The only problem was that he couldn't find the door…and was Lolita humming from somewhere in the darkness? This managed to make the tense situation even worse with Marcus practically scratching at the walls to find a way out of the room to help Coyote.

"Trying to escape?" Lolita giggled. "But then you'll miss all the fun."

"Of what? Losing my virginity to an old bag?"

Believe it or not, once he had said that, Lolita gasped out of disgust.

"H-how dare you! I'll have you know that I'm only twenty-one years old!"

A light bulb switched on in Marcus' head and a smirk stretched across his face. He turned around and crossed his arms.

"Yeah, whatever. You don't look a day under fifty."

"Fuck you!"

"Fuck you."

"FUCK YOU!"

She came running straight at him from the darkness. Marcus grabbed one end of his staff with both hands and gripped it tight.

"AND IT'S A HOOOOOOOOOOOOOME RUN!" he cheered as he swung it with all his might, smacking Lolita across the face and knocking her unconscious.

Marcus walked up to Lolita's collapsed form and gently nudged her with his foot. She simply stirred, but didn't wake up.

"Well, that was a bit of a rip-off. Anyhow, let's see what we've got."

Marcus placed his hand Lolita's forehead, and in came another vision. However, he couldn't see what was happening. All he heard were two: his and Coyote's. Both of them were talking in frightened and devastated tones.

"**Coyote, please…we can find a cure! We can get you back to normal!"**

"**She's infected me beyond the chance of a cure, Mark. You know you don't have a choice. Just do it!"  
"…I can't."**

"**Please, Mark…rid me of this curse once and for all. If anyone is going to do this to me, I'll be happy to know that it's you."**

The real Marcus stood confused, not knowing what was going on until he heard a gunshot ring out. Had he just…shot Coyote?

He shook the thoughts out of his head and looked down at Lolita one last time.

"Sleep well, princess."

He walked out of the now-visible door, shutting it and twisting the locking bar into a knot to prevent the door from opening. When it was done, he ran down the stairs to where the team and the militia were now stationed. Just as Chase had said, Coyote was out cold with a black spew dripping from her mouth.

"The prisoners have all been exterminated." Peppy said.

"What about Leon?" Marcus asked.

"A little delirious, but he's regaining contact with reality by the looks of it."

Marcus nodded and cradled Coyote in his arms.

"I got the beacon. We're heading back to the _Great Fox._"

**Prepping for injection…**

The still-unconscious Coyote was strapped to a surgical table with nothing but her undergarments on the second the team got back to the ship. Chase forced her to breathe in an anesthetic gas just to make sure she wouldn't wake up during this somewhat painful procedure.

"Okay." he concluded before screwing the vial of antibodies into a nearby contraption. "So if we look at the screen here, we can see the bacteria which I think are causing all of these violent outbursts."

The team looked at the screen. They were indeed strange black creatures flitting about in Coyote's blood stream, and they certainly seemed to resemble bacteria.

"So how's this gonna work?" Damalgo asked.

"I'm going to inject the serum into six areas: both arms, both legs, and both sides of her neck. The antibodies should take about a few hours at the least to completely eat away at the bacteria."

"Alright." Marcus said. "Do it."

Chase nodded and began inputting commands on his keyboard. The machine he placed the serum into revved to life and flexed its six arms, all of which had needles on the end. The arms positioned themselves in the right areas and gently inserted the needles into Coyote's skin. She strained her face, but otherwise didn't move or wake up. The needles retracted just a few moments later, and the team examined the screen again.

The small red antibodies began swimming through Coyote's blood stream and proceeded toward the bacteria, but then came the moment of horror: they were doing absolutely nothing to eliminate them. The bacteria themselves struck away the antibodies without even moving.

"What's going on?!" Anna asked. "Why isn't it working?!"

"Something's wrong…" Chase said. "Maybe I need to inject a higher dose or…no…it can't be."

He scanned the bacteria and inputted more commands until the results came up.

"No, no, no, NO!" Chase panicked. "This can't be happening!"

"What's wrong?!" Marcus asked.

"The bacteria themselves are antibodies, so according to my calculations, there's nothing wrong with Coyote!"  
"What do you mean there's nothing wrong?! She ripped a guy's head off down there!"

"It wasn't a diseased impulse, Mark. The virus was indeed just in her blood stream when I first analyzed it, but now…it's spread beyond repair."

Marcus stood speechless for a moment before coming to a realization. He felt a tear come to his eye as he began thinking and speaking his next words.  
"So you're telling me…there's no cure?"

"Yes. It's in her genetic code now. When she slaughtered that guy, she was acting on primal instinct…she's not who she used to be, Mark."

Chase slumped over in defeat.

"I'm sorry, Mark…Coyote is beyond saving now."  
'No…no! This is bullshit! There has to be a way to stop it from getting any worse!"  
"THERE IS NONE! COYOTE'S DONE FOR, MARK!"

The moment Chase yelled, Coyote woke up. At first, it just seemed like she had stirred awake, but then she looked over at Anna and made the poor girl scream. Her eyes were opened frighteningly wide and had nothing in them aside from the whites. The moment Anna screamed and backed away, Coyote adopted a menacing grin before letting out the horrible roar once again. Marcus spun around and went to subdue the now-thrashing wolf girl, only to have (of all things) a tentacle burst out of Coyote's chest and wrap itself around her neck.

"What's happened to her?!" Anna cried.

"She's a fucking monster, that's what's happened!" Chase yelled.

Marcus trashed about in the grip of the tentacle, trying his best to get loose. This only forced Coyote to strengthen her grip until she finally slammed him up against a wall. Marcus had no choice. He closed his eyes brought up any amount of strength he had left, and…

"CEFYRIYBS NEFGH!" he bellowed.

A massive burst of blue light filled the room and drenched over Coyote. The inhumane roar emerged again, but Marcus felt the tentacle release its grip around him and when the light faded, Coyote was sitting upright in her normal state. She looked over at Marcus in complete terror as he stood up.

She embraced him the second he came close enough, and with the gentle tears flowing from her face, her words served to make Marcus all the more determined to have Kursed begging for forgiveness.

"Help me…please." she sobbed.

Marcus growled under his breath and adopted a look of pure vengeance before yelling out.

"Kursed! If it's the last thing I do…I'll kill you for this!"

Somewhere far away, Kursed heard these words and smirked as though they tickled her.

"Bring it on."

**Upon further inspection…**

The militia remained behind on Kew for a few hours examined all the recorded criminals to ensure they had every single one accounted for. They found them all…

…all of them except Lolita Ferdinand.

_And now the curtain draws on the second act. You wanna know something even crazier? We're not even half-done yet! ...other than that, I don't have anything else to say. See ya._

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare- _"Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "_Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

_Coyote versus the shadows- _"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson

_The star Lylat- _Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime

_Marcus and Fox- _"Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

_Fox versus Kursed- _"Du Hast" by Rammstein

_Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- _Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)

_The Nightstriker- _"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath

_The death of Commander Dane- _"Mad World" by Gary Jules

_The prisoners of Kew- _Byelomorye Dam from Goldeneye 64


	15. 14: Discovery

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

**Discovery**

**March 8****th****, 2057**

**Sargasso Space Hideout**

"Okay." Chase said, handing Coyote a satchel full of syringes. "These should repress your instincts until I can find some sort of cure. Just remember that you need to shoot directly into the vein and they need to be taken once every twelve hours."

"Thanks…but what exactly is it?"

"Liquidated medical marijuana. It'll mellow you out for an hour or so and keep your instincts from getting out of hand for the half-day following that…don't bother asking me how it works. My dad made it."

"Huh…never thought I'd willingly take pot, but alright."

"The good news is you won't space out like most drug addicts would, so that's a plus. Let's get some into you now before we head out."

The team knew that if any remaining Aparoids were hiding out in the Lylat System, Sargasso was where they were going to be. It was once a standard recon area for the Cornerian Army before it was abandoned during the first Lylat War. Afterwards, Star Wolf had moved in and established it as a hideout before it was discovered by Star Fox during the first Aparoid Invasion. Now that Star Wolf was primarily based on Fortuna, Sargasso was simply a sitting duck waiting to be shot with a light gun, though it thankfully lacked a dog that would start laughing at you every time you messed up.

It didn't look like the sitting duck had been shot at yet, as none of the team members could see anything odd about it. Granted, they weren't here to flush out the Aparoids anyway.

"So how's this gonna work, Annie?" Marcus asked.

"Somewhere on the top floor is a satellite uplink that can be directed to pinpoint any location within a ten thousand light year radius." Anna replied. "It's so advanced that we could even lock on to Earth if we had the time and resources."

"And we're going to use the beacons' data I apparently have stored in my head to track the epicenter of the attacks."

"Yes. Hopefully we can put an end to this charade once we get that over with."

A porcine hand clapped down on Anna's shoulder.

"You and your maps, eh, Annie?" Peter chuckled.

Marcus smirked.

"Certainly didn't take you long to get back on your feet, did it?" he asked.

"'Course not. This job is just too damn fun to leave the work to you guys."

"I thought you'd say that. You're too damn fun to do these jobs without, anyway."

ROB stepped forward.

"Marcus." he said in his normal monotone voice. "I am happy to report that Chase has fully repaired me and I will no longer make the strange noises you have been hearing for the past few months."

"That's good to hear, ROB."

"However, I did enjoy saying one particular quote. If it is satisfactory with you, I request permission to repeat it every once in a while."

Marcus smirked.

"Sure. All of the stuff you said was pretty funny, anyhow."

"Affirmative."

With that, ROB turned to Chase and said his favourite quote.

"Come here, space! I have a secret for you! …no, come closer!"

Chase smirked.

"Good to know he's developing emotions and he knows that's supposed to be funny."

"W-what's your favourite thing about space?! Mine is space…"

Marcus cracked his knuckles.

"Okay, team. Let's head in there and bring this war to its third act."

The voice laughed in his head.

"Third act? Already? The party's only just begun!" Kursed said in a mocking tone.

"We'll see about that." Marcus growled back.

* * *

"Pete and Al, you guys take the outside. We'll start looking for the uplink." Marcus ordered.

"Got it." Damalgo replied. "I don't think there's gonna be too much of a problem, but now that I've said that, there probably will be with our kind of luck."

Yea, verily.

The six ships cruised effortlessly towards the large space station and entered through the permeable air barrier. Landing in the dock, every one of them felt slightly nervous. They figured this place would have been heavily guarded, but they didn't see any Aparoids anywhere…and that was the problem. It was simply too quiet.

The four foot soldiers looked all about the massive room. There was no sign of movement, no real feeling of a threat, no nothing…aside from all the machines and windows and floors and ceilings, but what do I know? I'm just the writer.

Marcus himself couldn't even sense the presence of any hostile creatures, but he decided to test it.

"Area's secure!" he shouted loud and obnoxiously.

Just like he had thought, the Aparoids phased into the room, showing yet another sign of their rapid evolution and how they just went from Pokémon to Metroids…y'know, 'cause Pokémon don't evolve past a second stage evolution and Metroids…forget it.

"That figures." Marcus sighed before readying his staff. "Alright, kids, let's annihilate these sons of bitches!"

With a drawn staff, shotgun, assault rifle, and Repulsor Gauntlets from the four of them, their Aparoid-slaying carnage began.

"Mark!" Anna yelled. "Let's you and me head for the uplink! I need you in order to get it working right, anyway."  
"Got it." Marcus said before turning to Coyote and Chase. "Think you two can handle this on your own?"

Coyote turned her head and winked at him.

"We live for this shit, honey."

"I figured…and 'honey'? Really?"

"It seemed appropriate."

Once Anna had gotten a clear path on where to start moving, she dashed off and led Marcus up a ramp to the second floor while Chase and Coyote stayed below to hold off the Aparoids. Chase took care of two with a blast from his shotgun, while Coyote slit the throat of one and pulsed another into a wall. Following this, she shifted to the side to avoid being grabbed and impaled her attacker through the chest.

Just as Peter and Damalgo were thinking about delving in and helping their comrades, several dozen more Aparoids popped out from behind floating bits of debris.

"Yep, that's just what I thought." Damalgo grumbled. "Let's waste time hiding behind debris…yeah, not chasing cars, but hiding behind debris."

"Alluding to a 50-year old band." Peter said with a smirk. "Gotta love it."

Marcus and Anna proceeded across the catwalks and through the various large hallways of the station, tuckering him out long before he could determine whether or not they were getting anywhere.

"How much further?" he whined.

"It's on the top floor."

"Oh, for God's sake, why is it always on the top floor?! What is this, a freakin' Zelda dungeon?!"

"You know, now that I think about it, how come there hasn't been a futuristic Zelda game? I'd play that!"

Who wouldn't?

As the two proceeded down the hall past a rather large window, a shadow suddenly draped over them from outside before vanishing.

"Don't honestly tell me there's two Nightmares." Marcus grumbled.

Anna took a look out the window and managed to catch a quick glimpse of something sneaking around the edge of the station.

"There's something out there, alright, but it's no robot." she said. "…regardless of that, let's speed things up a bit, what do you say?"  
"I say yes. Let's get a move on!"

The two continued running, only for Marcus' communicator to buzz.

"Son of a bitch, give me some breathing room, will ya?!" Coyote growled.

"Bad news, Mark!" Chase shouted. "The Aparoids are pouring in from the entrance! They're driving us straight towards you and Anne!"

Marcus bit his lip. They must have somehow tracked his presence and were trying to plow through the other four team members to get to him. Of course. Kursed wasn't the kind of airhead to just let him find out where her nest was and then burn it to the ground, was she? For an evil and possibly demonic beast, she was certainly much smarter that people thought she was.

"Can't you hold them off?"

"What part of 'they're pouring in' did you not understand?"

"Don't worry, Mark." Anna said. "There's a single room lockdown feature on the room the uplink's in and if my map is correct, there's a back way out of the same room. It's simple: we get in the room, lock it down, get the data, and get out the back door."

"Is it foolproof?"

"Well, I'm about…"

"80% sure?"

"How the hell did you know that?"

"A: I'm psychic. B: no plan is foolproof. And C: you always say 80%."

"…well, shit. Coulda fooled me."

The two picked up their pace only for Chase and Coyote to come sprinting around the corner no more than two minutes later.

"HAUL ASS!" they both yelled at the top of their lungs.

And that's just what they did when the saw the parade of Aparoids came surging around the corner and barreling towards them. The four of them ran as fast as they possibly could, their lungs heaving and their hearts pounding like hammers in their chests. It was hard enough trying to run this quickly without giant bugs chasing after them. Right as they approached an intersection in the halls, they swerved off to one side and pressed flat against the wall. Like the brainless barbarians they were, the Aparoids flew past them without even noticing.

"Okay." Anna breathed. "The room where the uplink is should be just to our EAYAAAAGH!"

Right as she was finishing her sentence, an Aparoid reached around the corner and seized her ankle, beginning to drag her straight toward the rest of the swarm.

"Give her back, you Goddamned freak!" Chase yelled, running forward and unloading every shot he had in his shotgun.

When he saw that the shells were taking almost no effect, he dove forward and grabbed Anna's wrists, trying to pull her free. It didn't do any good since Chase…well, didn't even lift, serving only to send him catapulting backward when Anna was wrenched free of his grasp. The person that shot into the picture next, however, lifted ten-fold.

"Smile, you son of a bitch!" Wolf growled before slicing the Aparoid's spindly arm off with his sharp claws.

"Dad!" Coyote cheered.

Wolf cradled his niece and rushed with the rest of the team to the uplink room, where Coyote ran to the terminal and locked the room down the second she was sure everybody was inside. Anna got back to her feet and took several deep breathes before speaking.

"Let me ask a perfectly legitimate question: why is it that monsters and lunatics keep grabbing at me?! What am I, a fuckin' piece of candy?"

"Yes." Chase replied.

Anna shot him a dirty look, but he carried on.

"Let me explain why. They're the big bullies of the playground, and I as your boyfriend am the little kid they snatched you from because they felt like being a bunch of inconsiderate douchebags. The only downside is that they're acting on instinct, not being inconsiderate, so I can really fault them for it."

"Interesting way of putting things." Wolf remarked. "Are you all okay?"

"Yes." Marcus replied. "Thank you, Wolf. Alright, then, Anne. Let's start this up and figure some things out."

Anna nodded and proceeded to the uplink computer. She typed in a few commands before Chase dug out the mind helmet…thing from the last story…yes. Really.

Marcus placed the helmet on his head and closed his eyes, bringing up every bit of information he could muster while Coyote and Wolf stood back to watch the three work their magic. Anna typed in a few more commands while Chase whispered commands into Marcus' ear.

"Are they sure this is going to work?" Wolf asked.

"It's Chase and Anna, Dad." Coyote replied. "They never mess up."

Wolf looked his daughter sternly in the eyes.

"You need to be careful around Kursed, Coyote. She's something that was never meant to exist in this world…not now, and not ever again. If you're going to go after her like this, please be safe."

Coyote smiled and hugged her father.

"It's okay. I've got them. They'll never let anything terrible happen to me."

"Got it." Anna concluded.

Chase took the helmet off Marcus' head, and the five of them crowded around the hologram map of the Lylat System.

"It's all clear now." Anna began. "The beacons weren't just placed randomly. They formed a trail. Watch. First there was Sector Y with the giant mech."

A dot appeared on Sector Y, as well as all of the further listed locations.

"Then it curves backwards towards Corneria with Ridley. Then it heads out to Lylat with that Pokémon Aparoid thing…yeah, I'm too lazy to name it properly. Then it went to Venom with Emperor Angler, and finally to Kew with Lolita Ferdinand. They're curving outward in an S-shape."

"You sure it's not just a coincidence?" Marcus asked.

"No. Look at this. Corneria and Lylat are a distance of about 149.6 million miles apart. So are Lylat and Venom, and Venom and Kew. Meanwhile, Sector Y is about 36 million miles upward from Corneria. So if we target the area 36 million miles downward from Kew…"

She inputted a few more commands, and the hologram displayed a planet.

"We have our epicenter."

Marcus took a closer look at the planet and saw a shocking familiarity, as well as a huge case of dumbfounded disbelief.

"No way…that's impossible!" he said.

"What is?" Chase asked.

"That planet is Cerinia!"

This shocked everyone in the room to no end. Cerinia was Krystal's homeworld that had apparently been destroyed when she was nineteen years old, but here it was looking perfectly intact. How was that possible?

"Yes!" Damalgo said from over the communicator. "I knew it!"

"You knew what?" Chase asked.

"I had a theory about why Kursed would want to steal Marcus' soul, and this confirms it."

"Alright, let's hear it."

"A planet suddenly appeared just outside of the Lylat System on July 28th, 2037. Scientists claimed that it just seemed like pieces of rock where being linked together by a blue light, and when the planet was formed, everything seemed to grow on it in an instant."

"So what?"

"July 28th, 2037! That's the day Marcus was born! When Marcus was born, he somehow sapped energy off of Kursed and rendered her weakened!"

Marcus stroked at his chin. Under normal circumstances, this would be absurd, but considering he'd seen much worse than that, it was certainly plausible. One thing he was still wondering, though, was how she had dispelled the Seal of Spirits that he had placed on her. That would have to be figured out later, as Coyote had a question.

"Then where are all the Aparoids coming from?" she asked.

Anna sighed.

"You know when I said a while back that you need to hope I was at least 80% wrong on that?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Turns out I was 100% correct…has anyone here besides Chase ever heard of the Echo?"

No one did. Not only did the name confuse those who didn't know about it, but it unnerved them to think that there was a power at work here other than Kursed. With these looks in clear view, Anna began to explain.

"I'll take that as a no. The Echo is an infinite plane of existence separate from everything we know. With the right kind of space warping technology, one could get into it pretty easily."

"So it's kind of like hyperspace?" asked Peter from over the comm.

"No, not at all, though like hyperspace, it's a place where time and space bend back on themselves. It's more like another dimension, because unlike hyperspace, the Echo isn't a trail. It's a destination…and for anybody who tried to get into it, it was a final destination."

Marcus bit his lip.

"In short and sweet terms, the Echo is Hell." he said sternly.

"Yes. Like I said, there's infinite space in the Echo, and if Kursed is somehow able to move back and forth between this plane of existence and the Echo, then the Aparoids have to be using it as their nest."

"It's normally against my better judgment to debunk things my family members say," Wolf said. "But I'm sorry. That sounds like complete bullshit."

Anna shook her head.

"It isn't. Scientists have theorized about it for years until they actually conducted an experiment by conjuring up a black hole and sending a droid inside. They received a sound reply, but it went dead in a matter of seconds. The Echo's real. Now the only problem is figuring out how the Echo and Cerinia are connected."

The team was trying their best to let this newfound information sink in, but Peter had a finding to discuss.

"Mates…we've got trouble."

"What's up, Pete?" Chase replied.

"I'm no loon nor expert, but unless my eyes are deceiving me, there's a giant…HAND out here!"

Right as he finished saying that, the hideout shook violently. Everyone was knocked off their feet and the room was bathed in a red light as a computerized voice began blaring.

"Red alert. Vicinity in peril. All available personnel evacuate immediately."

"That's our cue!" Marcus yelled. "RUN!"

Coyote opened the back door out of the room and the team proceeded down its hallway, only for the hideout to shake again. This time, a large amount of debris collapsed out of the ceiling and blocked off the way back to the room. Not that the team would need to go back in, but there was one problem: one of them was trapped behind it.

"Mark!" Coyote cried, trying to wrench each bit of debris free.

"I'm alright!" Marcus shouted back. "Go! I'll find another way out!"

Coyote wouldn't dare consider leaving him behind, but Chase took her hand regardless of that.

"He knows what he's doing. Let's go!"

She bit her lip, but still nodded and continued running while Marcus turned around and ran back through the uplink room's main entrance. It seemed that the Aparoids knew that it wasn't worth hunting him if they all died in a fiery explosion anyway, as they had left. The problem was that practically the entire floor had given way, leaving only a few running beams and whatever little bits of the floor were left to plant your feet on.

"In that case, parkour time!"

Yeah, parkour. That thing that looks absolutely incredible when pulled off right and is both exhilarating and sure to earn you some popularity points. Unfortunately, it's also the subject of a lot of Youtube fail videos because if you don't know how to do it, you push yourself too hard, or even if your foot slips one inch too far to the right, you're gonna get hurt…badly!

Thankfully, Marcus was not one of those people, clearly demonstrated as he expertly jumped and landed on a very thin beam, carefully yet quickly moving across it step-by-step before jumping as high as he could and grabbing a beam above his head to land on a small piece of the floor. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he ran along the wall, kicking himself over to the wall beside it and continuing to run if he got too low until he reached a spot where he would have to vault himself upward, which he accomplished with another, differently-angled kick.

"My mind is racing, my hands are shaking but I'm still runnin', and I'm still gettin' headshots! It's like boom! Headshot! Boom, headshot, BOOM HEADSHOT!" he whooped.

…so yeah, parkour's pretty fun. Dangerous, sure, but still fun.

On the other side, the rest of the team had thankfully made it back to the hangar bay and every single one of them was preparing to take off. Chase himself wasn't far from the _Slip Strap_ when it finally happened…she had come for him.

"Chase Toad, I presume." Kursed said.

Chase turned towards the source of the voice. It hadn't been in his head. It had been directly behind him, and when he turned to look, there she was. Standing there with one hand on her hip and the other hanging down by her side. He was immediately frightened to think that she was going to come at him in this moment of crisis, but he didn't display this fear. Even though she was looking at him with a hungry-looking smirk, he stood firm.

"So you and I finally meet." he said.

Kursed chuckled.

"You can thank Marcus for that. So you're his best friend, huh?"

"Yeah, and as his best friend, I think you're a bitch and need to be taken down pronto."

Kursed stepped towards him and widened her eyes, forcing Chase to raise his fists and prepare to fight. What she said to him delivered the notion that she trying something, and the result would be nasty.

"You're so cute, Chase. You're short and plucky and you still think you can win out in a fist fight…come closer to me."

The way she had casually said it made him all the more confused. Anna looked behind her as she got in her ship.

"Chase, come on! What are you…oh, God, NO!"

Somehow the way she was looking at him…Chase dropped his fists. He was completely drawn in and steadily began walking towards her with a dazed look in his eyes. Kursed smiled and warmly embraced him the moment he was close enough.

"So adorable…" she cooed, looking down into his eyes and steadily edging her mouth closer and closer to his.

"Get away from him, you bitch!" yelled Marcus as he dropped out of nowhere with his staff raised high above his head.

Kursed blocked Marcus' blow with her arm and forced him backwards. Chase suddenly let out a loud scream and fell onto his back. Only Anna had seen how Kursed had linked her leg to Chase's and pulled it back in a way that had snapped the poor young Toad's leg into an irregular shape.

Marcus lunged at Kursed yet again, only for her to disappear with seductive laughter. Anna was about to get out of her ship and go to help Chase when the hideout shook brutally yet again. Marcus sheathed his staff and heaved Chase onto his back. Chase painfully smiled.

"You could just let me lie there…it would save you the trouble."

"Don't talk like that!" Marcus said back. "You're my best friend and I'll be damned if I let you die for any reason whatsoever!"

Marcus dragged Chase along and gently loaded him into the back of the _Arwing III_ before he vaulted in himself. With that out of the way, the four ships blasted out of the hangar with Peter and Damalgo in hot pursuit. As soon as they were far enough, the hideout gave into its damages and exploded. The team looked on wordlessly before they flew back to the _Great Fox._

**On "safer" grounds…**

"Okay." Damalgo concluded after looking over Chase long enough. "He'll be fine. It's just a broken leg. We just need to get him back home and get some medical assistance."

"Alright." Marcus replied. "ROB, set course for…"

Now the mothership shook.

"What the fuck is that?!" Coyote hollered.

Anna examined the ship status screen and spotted an abnormality.

"There's something nestled directly on top of the ship!"

"Whatever it is, it obviously ain't nice." Wolf muttered before turning his attention to Marcus. "McCloud! Let's you and me check it out!"

"Got it. I'll set the _Great Fox_ form an oxygen barrier."

Once the preparations were complete, Marcus and Wolf made their way up onto the roof of the _Great Fox_ with its pocket of air and gravity manipulation applied to make it possible to stand on. Upon looking closely enough…

"Is it just me or is that thing a giant glove?!" Marcus sputtered.

As soon as Marcus said that, the hand raised off the ground and began floating in the air, gently waving its fingers as though it were looking at them. When Marcus and Wolf took a step towards it, it clenched. Wolf smirked.

"What's the matter? Ya scared?" he mocked.

"You act like you've seen this thing before, Wolf." Marcus said in a puzzled tone.

"I was thinking the same thing, but whether I know what it is or not, I can guarantee it ain't gonna be home in time for brunch."

The two sank into a fighting stance. The hand responded by punching at them at full force. They flipped out of the way and Wolf managed to get in a good swipe of his claws. The hand reared back again, instead opting to curl up its forefinger and flick it full force at Marcus, who simply blocked it with his staff.

"Hey! Got any brains in there?!" Marcus yelled.

He received no response.

"…shoot. It's not as fun when you can't see their reaction."

The hand's fingers glowed a bright blue before lasers somehow erupted out of them and it directed them towards the two canine fighters. Marcus rolled between them and jabbed at its palm with his staff. The hand responded by seizing the staff, yanking it out of Marcus' hand, and throwing it as far away as he could. Marcus smirked.

"Weren't betting on this, were you?" he mocked before reaching out with his mind and telekinetically pulling the staff back into his outstretched hand.

Again he received no response.

"Okay, a little tip for you: don't talk to disembodied hands. Not only is it pointless, it's just flat-out absurd."

The hand slapped the surface of the _Great Fox_, which wasn't nearly enough to send a shockwave across it until Marcus and Wolf saw what it was doing: it was steadily tipping the great mothership in an upwards slant, and by the time the two of them realized this, they were slipping downwards. They jammed their respective staff and claws into the metal surface to keep from slipping any farther, but they knew that the longer the hand tilted the ship, the sooner they would lose their grip and go fluttering off into empty space.

They both knew they needed to act fast in order to stop this, and Wolf acted first. He released his claws and let himself slide downward toward the hand, where he sank his claws in as far as they would go. The hand released itself from the _Great Fox_ and allowed it to level out, but it also seized Wolf in its massive grip. While Wolf managed to jam his legs against the hand's fingers and keep it from crushing him, Marcus knew he wouldn't be able to hold out for long.

With this thought in mind, Marcus ran forward, jumped on top of the hand, and jabbed the spear end of his staff behind one of the knuckles. The hand released Wolf and gave Marcus enough time to pull him to safety.

"Heh. Not bad, kid." Wolf said with a smirk.

"Hey, you saved my ass three years ago." Marcus replied with a smirk of his own. "I'm simply returning the favour."

"Good. Nothing like saving your father-in-law to make a good impression on him before you marry his daughter."

"Thanks…wait, what?!"

The hand…oh, fuck this, You know who it is. Master Hand shook off the pain of Marcus' staff jabbing into him and made a strange signal, raising his index and ring finger and then giving a thumbs-up.

"So what, is he applauding us? Saying we did a good job? What's…mother of pearl THERE'S TWO OF THEM!"

Sure enough, another giant hand came rocketing up the other side looking identical to Master Hand except for two things. One: it was a left hand while Master Hand was a right, and two: it was thrashing about violently. Fitting, because Crazy Hand began attacking far more aggressively than his counterpart. He slammed down so quickly that it sent a shockwave knocking our two canine heroes of their feet and barely giving them enough time to roll away before Master Hand came punching down after them.

Once Marcus and Wolf were standing again, Master Hand made a signal that carefully resembled a gun. Wolf at first was confused about what was going on, but then he realized it.

"HIT THE DECK!" he yelled before diving down and taking Marcus with him.

The two got down just in time as a large and blazing blast of air shot over them, echoing throughout the air like the gunshot it was heavily implied to be. The two got back on their feet and prepared to jump when they saw the two hands simultaneously close in on them, but they instead gently nudged them with their palms.

Of course, they didn't realize that Marcus was a psychic little genius, now did they?

"JUMP FOR IT!" he yelled.

The two leaped into the air just as the two hands pulled back suddenly and came surging inward as fists, slamming into one another. While Marcus and Wolf landed safely, the two hands reeled backward and shook off the pain. To add insult to injury (quite literally), Crazy Hand turned to Marcus and clenched into a fist before raising that one finger at him. Marcus simply shrugged.

"Rude."

"Mark, you gotta finish those two off now!" Anna yelled. "That oxygen field isn't gonna stay up forever!"

"And you're warning me of this now that we're already out here because…"

"Here, I'll make it short and sweet for you: HURRY UP!"

"That makes it a tad urgent, doesn't it?" Wolf grunted.

"Yep…cover me. I've got an idea."

He had done this technique before, but he realized it sucked out a lot of his energy. He'd need to build it up so he could keep fighting afterwards since he could guarantee this would only finish off one of the hands. It was just a matter of choosing which one would go first: the sane one who had weaker attacks but had dead-on accuracy, or the lunatic one who missed practically every time but hit like a train coming at you full-speed.

He knelt down with his staff in his hands and began meditating, muttering words in Cerinian while Wolf stood around him and waited for the hands to move. Crazy Hand made a grab at him, only for him to whip out his own menacing variation of the standard issue military blaster and release a charged blast to send the somewhat tattered-looking hand reeling backward before clawing at his approaching counterpart. Wolf dashed forward, pulling out a small metallic hexagon when Master Hand prepared to unleash his lasers again.

"Have you ever taken a good look at yourself in the mirror?" he asked. "Here's your chance!"

He flipped the hexagon into the air in front of him and it activated to reveal itself as a reflector, proven when the lasers struck its surface and bounced right back, singeing Master Hand upon contact. At that moment, Marcus stood.

"I'm ready!" he yelled. "Get out of the way!"

Wolf vaulted himself away as Marcus crouched down and aimed his staff right at the weakened Master Hand with a malicious grin.

"IMMA FIRIN' MAH LAZAH!" he hollered as he…well, fired his laser.

His Hyper Beam to be exact. The high frequency beam ripped through Master Hand like butter, and when the light from it finally faded, there was nothing left of him. Now if only his crazy brother over there would go down as easily.

Or maybe there was a way to take him down easily.

"Wolf!" Marcus said. "I need you to pinpoint the heaviest area on that hand!"

"A bit of an odd request…but alright."

"Mark, you've got two minutes until the field disappears!" Peter yelled. "Hurry the hell up!"

"I'm going, I'm going! Jesus Christ…"

The two strafed away from Crazy Hand's punch and Wolf used the thermal sensor on his ocular lens to locate any area that more blood (if there was any) would be pumped to. In less than a few seconds, he located it.  
"It's the palm! Whatever you're doing, hop to it!"

Marcus ran forward and jabbed his staff full-force through the palm, using his telekinesis to hold Crazy Hand in place. Once that was accomplished, he stepped over to the edge of the _Great Fox_ reared back, and tossed his staff downward like a javelin, taking the massive hand with it. Once he knew it was far enough, he yanked the staff free and brought it back. Before Crazy Hand even knew what had happened, he realized that he was floating directly in front of the _Great Fox_'s main cannons…and that Peter had seen him!

"Smile, you son of a bitch!" the Aussie hog cheered as he slammed down on the button.

The cannon fired, ripping through Crazy Hand in the same way the Hyper Beam took out Master Hand. With that over and done, he floated through space limp, finally giving Marcus and Wolf time to take in a breather.

"I'd say that's enough action for one day." Marcus said.

"Agreed." Wolf replied before giving his back a good stretch. "God, I'm getting too old for this."

**Back on truly safe ground…**

"The doctor says you're gonna be in here for the next couple days, so get some rest." Marcus said the moment he got time with Chase at the hospital.

"Don't worry about me, Mark." Chase responded with a light smile. "I'm gonna be fine. But…there's something I need to tell you…it was even worse than I thought."

Marcus wasn't surprised. He knew this kind of pain from his own horrid encounters with Kursed, and seeing Chase in the same way just made him angrier about it.

"It was horrible…I just looked in her eyes and…I wanted to be there." he said in a misty tone. "…you have to stop her, Mark. No matter what, that bitch has to bite the dust as soon as you can force her to."

Marcus nodded.  
"I'll do it for you, buddy…I'll do it in the name of everyone she's hurt."

"He's in here, Miss Grey." the nurse said.

Anna walked in and sat down on the side of Chase's bed.

"Hey. You feeling better?" she asked.

"A lot better now that you're here." he replied, warmly smiling.

Marcus smiled and left without a word. These two lovebirds needed to treasure this moment. A moment that made life worth living and made Marcus want to stop Kursed from living hers any further.

"This is it…soon I'll bring this whole mess to an end. Get ready, Kursed. You're about to learn a lesson in life that you won't soon forget."

_And we'll be there to see it...yeah, I put Master Hand and Crazy Hand in a Star Fox story. C'mon, they were in a Kirby game, so why can't they be in this?_

_And now I offer a challenge to you good folks who tune in whenever I post a new chapter to these stories. A **contest** if you will. **If you're a fan of this story and you have a Deviantart or Furaffinity account or whatever, I'd like you to design a cover for this story. The cover I used for the last one was one I poorly made in Microsoft Paint because I have no drawing skills, so I'd like a legitimate hand or computer drawn cover for this one.**_

**_Here are the requirements: it must be PG material (i.e. no blood or boobies...really), and it needs to be your own work. Plagiarism isn't cool, guys. What I'd like to see if perhaps an image of Marcus and Coyote. They can be doing whatever you'd like them to do, but if you really want to get my attention, have them going into battle with Kursed. This also presents an opportunity for me to see what you guys think Coyote looks like. As soon as you've finished and posted it, send me a message with telling me your username on Deviantart/Furaffinity/whatever and I'll have a look._**

**_Now of course, we have to talk about a prize. The winner will receive a chapter of the next Star Fox story I plan on doing, though anybody who submits a picture that I like will receive free publicity on my profile (and that's always cool, right?). And don't worry: when it comes to the art of the internet, I'm easily impressed. The contest will end probably by the time I upload Chapter 17 (and you're in luck because that won't be for a while). Good luck to those who plan on participating and I'll see you guys next update._**

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare- _"Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "_Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

_Coyote versus the shadows- _"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson

_The star Lylat- _Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime

_Marcus and Fox/Marcus and Chase- "_Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

_Fox versus Kursed- _"Du Hast" by Rammstein

_Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- _Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)

_The Nightstriker- _"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath

_The death of Commander Dane- _"Mad World" by Gary Jules

_The prisoners of Kew- _Byelomorye Dam from Goldeneye 64

_Escape from Sargasso- _"Hard to See" by Five Finger Death Punch

_Marcus and Wolf versus Master Hand and Crazy Hand- _Final Destination from Super Smash Bros. Brawl


	16. 15: Skyfall

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

**Skyfall**

**The next day…**

**In orbit above Planet Cerinia**

"I know it's far too late to be saying things like this and it's cliché as all hell, but…I really don't wanna go down there…" Damalgo said timidly.

"You and me both." Anna replied.

Marcus said nothing as they looked down at Cerinia from the _Great Fox_'s bridge. The planet looked very peaceful from this high, but he knew that whatever was lurking underneath the clouds was less than friendly. Everything that had happened in the previous battles…it had all led up to this.

It was only then that Marcus noticed that Coyote wasn't on the bridge with the rest of them, though finding her took little effort. Upon walking into the bathroom, he saw her sitting there and hiding something behind her back the second he came in.

"What do you have there?" he asked.

"N-nothing! It's nothing, really!"

Marcus sensed her lying and looked into her thoughts. Upon seeing what she had been trying to do, he grew a look of horror, realizing that the thing she was holding behind her back was a loaded pistol.

"Were you just about to shoot yourself?!" he sputtered.

Coyote didn't answer.

"I know that being infected by a virus that you can't get rid of is a bad thing, but what makes you think that taking your own life is going to solve anything?!" Marcus growled. "Did you even think about how we would feel?!"

"…I wanna go home."

When he heard these words, he sensed something else was at work here. All anger vanished from him and was replaced with sympathy as he sat down next to Coyote and placed a hand on her shoulder. With that, she began to tragically speak.

"Scott kept begging me to take him with me when I left. I could tell that he was just concerned for my safety and that all he wanted was for me to come home in one peace, but I didn't want him to get involved in it. I kept saying no, but he didn't stop…and it happened again. The infection made me flip out at him."

Judging from the things Coyote had said to everyone else when her anger overtook her, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that what she had said had greatly disturbed her brother.

"When I finally stopped, he started yelling back. We were going back and forth at each other, and then…"

A tear seeped out of her eye and the thought of what happened afterwards, yet she still said it.

"He said he never wanted to see me again…I didn't know what to say, I just…stormed out."

Marcus turned Coyote's head so she was looking directly into his eyes.

"It's okay. He's still gonna be there when we get back."

"Mark…I'm going to have this virus for the rest of my life. How do you expect me to live with myself with the fact that me yelling at my own family for no reason is going to be a regular occurrence?"

"Chase has the suppressor for you…"

"And what if my body starts learning how to fight it? Then what?"

Marcus said nothing since that was the perfect question that he had no positive answer to. True, he could supress the effects of the virus, but it was still a genetic mutation. Not only was there no sort of cure for genetic mutations, not yet at least, but this was one that could made her violent in a matter of milliseconds. The more Marcus thought about it, the angrier he became.

"It's all her fault." he thought in concealed fury. "Coyote's infected. Pete, Samus, Falcon and Chase had to be hospitalized, Commander Dane is dead…I'm gonna wring her neck until she screams like a little girl."

Marcus exhaled, venting out his anger to the best of his ability before he embraced Coyote.

"It's okay. We're gonna get through this together. I promise with every inch of my life that I'm never going to let anything like this happen to you again. But you have to promise me that you'll stay strong, okay?"

"…okay. I promise."

The two proceeded back to the bridge. Anna's monitor beeped and she slammed it with her palm.

"Shit. I knew it wasn't gonna be this easy."

"What's up, Anne?" asked Peter.

"There's some sort of barrier around the planet. It's permeable, but it requires even more force than a cannon fire. Even a free fall from three miles above the surface couldn't get through there."

Marcus thought for a moment, processing any sort of method that they could use. When he reached a conclusion, he opened his eyes.

"What about a fire fall?"

"A what?" Damalgo said confused. "Are you making up your own lingo now, Mark?"

"Sort of. Al, you stay on the ship. We're getting to that planet whether Kursed likes it or not."

* * *

"Uhh…Mark, are you sure about this?" Damalgo asked. "I mean…think about it for a second: this is just freakin' insane!"

"A lot of things we do are 'freaking insane', Al." said Marcus. "This can't be that much different."

"Well…alright. If you say so."

Marcus looked down at the planet. He couldn't believe that this was what they were doing, either, but they were ready. They were ready to bring this war to and end and finally stop all of the terror this monster was stirring up.

"We're ready." Marcus said. "On my mark."

Damalgo positioned his hand over a button and exhaled.

"Sure you're not having second thoughts?"  
"Never. Just be ready to press that button."

"Okay. Your funeral…I really hope not, but still."

Damalgo sucked in a breath and waited as Marcus counted down from three.

"Three…"

Anna, Coyote, and Peter tensed up. They were just as ready as Marcus was. They were scared of what they might encounter on the surface, but they wouldn't know until they saw it for themselves.

"Two…"

Everything was absolutely silent save for the sound of the teams beating hearts…

"One…"

The tension reached its peak as Marcus yelled out the final word: "FIRE!"

Damalgo slammed down on the button, jettisoning the four out of the cannons at top speed and downward through the atmosphere, protected from the lack of air and steadily increasing heat by the new and improved Thermal Armour covering their entire bodies. They met with some moderate resistance in the form of slowdown, but within two seconds of being released from the cannons…

"We're through the barrier!" Anna announced.

"Alright, team! To the planet!"

They straightened and began plummeting down towards the planet, strafing from side-to-side to avoid being hit by floating rocks that drifted about through the gravity-lacking air. Even at the speed they were going, it would take approximately three minutes for them to reach the planet's surface. What made this aggravating was what had suddenly come up from the planet far below.

"Aparoids." Anna growled. "Even after we've taken down all the beacons, they're still leaking through the Echo."

"That makes sense, then." said Peter. "It means there's one more beacon down there. It's a simple as taking it down and then finishing off Kursed, right?"

"You don't know Kursed, Peter." muttered Marcus. "Even after she forced you into getting third-degree burns, that's not even the worst she could do to you."

Peter sighed.  
"I really hate quoting movies, but I suppose it just from mission impossible to mission in-freakin'-sanity."

"Sadly yes. We can't use our weapons like this, guys. We're just gonna have to outrun them."

"Wouldn't that technically be out-FALL them?"

"Sure. Whatever."

The team pressed their arms flat against their sides, thus allowing them to slip through the air slightly faster and easier. The Aparoids paid no attention to this change being the mindless vermin that they were and continued to make attempts at catching up with their potential prey. They couldn't even come close as the four dove further and further.

"We're entering the mesosphere!" Anna yelled. "Hold tight, guys! It's gonna get hot!"

And hot it got. The pure speed of the suits caused the air around them to steadily increase in heat, and though the team could feel the heat as they began to sweat heavily, they still felt protected. The same could not be said for the Aparoids as the air surging by them at an almost impossible speed began to make flames lick across their bodies. Still, they carried on. These four metallic-clad creatures couldn't reach the planet where their mistress was hiding.

"Persistent little shits, aren't they?" Coyote said with a slight smirk. "I gotta give 'em credit there."

"Whether they're noble to their queen or not, it won't matter when she's six feet under." Marcus said, trying his best not to sound like a cold-blooded killer.

It couldn't be helped. He wanted to kill her. He wanted her to pay for all the suffering she had caused everyone. He didn't care if he had to throw his staff down and just squeeze her neck until she stopped breathing.

"We're in the stratosphere!" Anna announced.

The flames on the Aparoids had intensified, and the team could hear them screeching in pain behind them. The Aparoids were utterly searing with pain, but they stubbornly kept after their targets for another twenty seconds until they couldn't take the heat anymore and spontaneously combusted into ashes.

"We call the physical descent into Hell." Peter said jokingly.

"If that's the case, we're headed there, too." Anna said as they surged through the dark clouds. "We're entering the troposphere!"

"Activate landing gear!" Marcus ordered.

The back of each suit opened, deploying flame-proof parachutes in their wake. The team slowed down rapidly until they drifted underneath the canopy of the trees below them and landed feet-first on the ground. With that finished, the metallic suits fell apart and left the four of them wearing the camouflage gear they had worn on Kew.

With nothing impeding their vision, the team observed their surroundings. Compared to the ashy forest of Kew, this place was (to say the least) absolutely beautiful. The leaves of the various trees around them seemed to glow a very light shade of blue, lighting up the air around them with a radiant hue. The only sound in the background was the quiet flowing of a nearby stream and the gentle blowing of a light breeze. There weren't any stars out for some strange reason even though it was the middle of the night, and considering this was the final battlefield, it only added to the ominous air about this planet. Still, Marcus couldn't deny its beauty.

Anna pressed a few buttons on her map and received a location.

"I'm picking up a strong energy reading from a little way to the east." she said. "There's definitely something there."

"Or some-ONE." said Marcus as he and the other three readied their weapons. "Let's do this."

One after the other, the team marched down the path, continuing to examine their surroundings. None of them dropped their guard even for a moment, and Marcus was on high alert should anything strike his ESP as dangerous.

As they walked, they began thinking of all they had been through. All the giant creatures they had faced, every place they had been…and especially all of those horrible attacks.

"I wish Chase was here." Anna sighed.

"Why's that?" Coyote asked.

"I don't know. He'd usually say something funny right about now to lighten the mood a little bit."

"You mean like 'AND MOAR TREEZ!'?"

"Yeah. Exactly like that."  
"…and when I do, it isn't funny in the least?"

"…ROB?"

"DAD I'M IN SPACE!" ROB blared before changing his tone. "I'm proud of you, son. DAD ARE YOU SPACE? Yes. Now we are a family again."

"Thanks, ROB."

"Space space. Wanna go to space…oh! Oh! You know what Chase rhymes with?"  
"Let's say it together then."

Anna took in a deep breath and said it simultaneously with ROB. What she didn't realize until after she said it was how loud it had been.

"SPAAAAAACE!"

When she shouted that, everything that had been nestling in the trees suddenly scattered. Coyote and Peter ended up swerving around and nearly shooting at a few of them.

"Jesus, Annie, don't do that!" Peter panted.

"Sorry…" Anna said sheepishly. "Just kinda got lost in the moment, y'know?"

Suddenly, Marcus' ESP flashed and faded so suddenly that it actually caused a nanosecond of sharp pain in his ears. He let out this pain in the form of a small yelp.

"Mark, are you okay?" Coyote asked.

Marcus clenched his teeth and looked up with a furrowed brow.

"Let's just keep moving. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can all go home and forget about it."

Upon walking through the forest for what seemed like a half hour, the team came across a most peculiar sight: a stone staircase that seemed to lead up through the canopy. The ominous feeling got worse, and the sting in Marcus' ears returned for a brief moment. He somehow knew that things were about to go from bad to worse, and the team hadn't even found a living creature yet. It didn't help that the reading on Anna's map was pointing to the top of these stairs, either.

Without a word, they ascended, pushing their way past the thick leaves and revealing the landscape beyond where they had landed. It looked somewhat peaceful, but what set them on edge was a mountain far off in the distance. The clouds gathered around it spiralled slowly in a way that made it almost resemble a hurricane. All four of them got a horrible sense of dread as they continued to climb the staircase until it finally deposited them on a large platform. On the platform were three totem poles looming over a large stone table.

The team walked off in different directions to examine the platform, save for Marcus and Coyote who both stepped toward the table. The totem poles that almost seemed to glare down at them had murals painted on them depicting a female fox with a smaller male drawn inside of her.

Turning her gaze from the poles, Coyote found a red liquid on the table and dipped her finger in it. Upon realizing just what it was, she was utterly horrified.

"This is…Mark, this is blood!"

Marcus looked at the table, and then at the totem poles again. Then he realized it. That woman was Kursed, and that man was him. And since she was drawn in a way that made her look peaceful (what with her eyes softly closed and holding her arms out like a loving mother), that could only mean…

"The natives…they're worshipping Kursed as a deity!" he sputtered. "They think she's a goddess!"

"They don't think. They know."

The voice slithered out from nowhere, and as soon as Peter and Anna saw that the source was right in front of them, they yelped out in fright and backed away towards their teammates keeping their guns trained on her. Kursed herself simply smiled.

"Hello, Star Fox, and welcome to Cerinia."

Marcus gripped his staff and unsheathed it.

"We came, we saw. We're here to kick ass and…kick more ass."

"I can see that. But let me ask you: did you really think it was going to be this easy? Just walking in and putting a bullet through my precious little heart? We're on my home turf, after all."

"Home turf or not, you're going down! Now let's do this!"

Marcus made the first move, charging headlong at Kursed. Kursed herself rolled her eyes and held up her hand, and the moment Marcus jabbed at her, she repulsed him backwards, forcing Peter to catch him.

"I know you're reckless, Marcus, but that was just ridiculous…oh! Coyote! How wonderful to see you again!"

Coyote bit her lip and trained her gun at Kursed, but couldn't stop herself from trembling. The horrible encounter with this evil being was still flashing through her mind and making her wish she could just go home and be with her family again.

"Get away from me!" she yelled. "I'm warning you!"

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost…or felt one giving you the greatest kind of pleasure."

"How dare you talk to her like that, you thunder cunt!" Marcus shouted.

Yes, he just said THAT. There's a reason this story is rated M…well, several, but admit it: you were thinking that, too.

"And Peter. How's your face, darling?"

Peter gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his gun.

"Wouldn't you like to know…"

"Yes. That would be why I asked….Anna, you're looking as cute as ever. How's Chase?"

Anna's fists shook and she began stepping forward.

"Better now that he's about to be avenged!"

Peter held her back. No way was he going to let the poor girl get any closer and risk being horrifically maimed like Chase had been. Kursed began walking around the team, making her way to the table. She ran a finger across its blood-stained surface and poked it in her mouth. The look on her face as she did so was that of pure ecstasy.

"Delicious. The people of this planet truly do provide me with wonderful meals. Isn't it wonderful the things a goddess can give her people…like supernatural powers, eh, Coyote?"

"Stop talking to her!" Marcus growled. "You say one more word to her and I'll…"

"Marcus, honey? Has anybody ever told you that you talk too much?"

"What did you say?!"  
"See?"

Marcus had to use every inch of his moral fiber to keep himself from lunging at her. Even though she hadn't done anything…yet, he was still as angry as a bull seeing red…red like BLOOOOOOD!

"But since you came all the way here, why don't we really get the party going?" Kursed asked, eyeing Coyote in a way that made Marcus aware that he needed to do something fast. "You're the guests of honour, after all."

Without any warning, Coyote felt every organ in her body seize up. She let out a choked gasp and felt her blood pressure begin to rise. Even though she had taken the repressor right before they had left Corneria, she realized in horror that Kursed had somehow overridden it.

The rest of the team turned to her in shock as she slowly began convulsing in pain. Marcus delved into her mind and tried to reason with her, saying whatever he could to try and calm her down, but all got back was a series of terrified and pained screams. Marcus turned angrily to his evil surrogate mother.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HER?!" he bellowed.

"Me? I'm not doing a damn thing. She's acting on instinct, remember?"

"You bitch!"

"Why, thank you."

All of a sudden, Coyote stopped convulsing and fell to her knees panting. Kursed held out her hand.

"Come to me, Coyote."

To Marcus' anger and horror, Coyote obeyed. She looked up and began walking towards Kursed, steadily stepping into her embrace.

"There, there, child. I'm sure Marcus has gotten you into enough danger as it is."

"Damn you! Let her go!" Anna yelled.

"Coyote dear, what do you think of our company? Do they look appetizing?"

Coyote turned towards her friends. Just like when her instincts had changed her into a demonically-roaring monster, her eyes were completely white. Marcus stepped forward.  
"Coyote…it's me. Marcus."

Coyote said nothing. She continued to stare at him, and he continued to try and reason with her.

"Please…remember what we came here for…remember all that we've been through."

Coyote blinked. She seemed to be starting to remember.

"Coyote…I love you."

She stepped forward and reached out her hand. Steadily, Marcus took it…

…and Coyote flung him over her shoulder. As Marcus came crashing to the ground, Anna and Peter ran to help him, only for Coyote to turn and roar at them as several spindly tentacles burst from her chest.

"AL, GET US OUTTA HERE!" Peter screamed into the comm.

"I'm already on it! Hang on!"

As Marcus picked himself up, he looked at Kursed who seemed to be smiling.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she said. "She's unleashed the beast within her…her true self."

"You wanna see a true self?! I'll show you 'true self'! I'll tear you to pieces!"

"Okay, then. Try it. I dare you."

He did. He ran at her with his staff raised, only for Coyote to clamp her jaws down on his staff and resist him. Marcus pushed against her as hard as he could, but he met with no success. Instead of trying to fight against Coyote, he wrenched his staff free right as the beam to warp the team back to the _Great Fox_ shone down onto the platform.

"Mark, come on!" Anna yelled as she and Peter made a break for it.

Marcus wanted to run. He wanted to get out of here, but he couldn't leave Coyote. There had to be a way to fix what Kursed had done. But would he find it on Cerinia? No…of course not. They worshipped Kursed. If anything, they'd offer him up to her the second they saw him.

He took one step towards the beam when one of Coyote's tentacles slammed into his stomach and sent him flying.

"MARCUS!" Anna cried. She tried to run to him, but realized too late that she had stepped into the beam. She and Peter were warped back to the mothership while Marcus flew through the air, slipped over the edge of the platform, and fell into the river far below.

"NO!" Kursed growled, running to the edge to have a quick look.

The river was washing Marcus away faster than she would be able to catch up. Coyote seemed like she was about to dive in after him, but Kursed blocked her.

"No. Don't worry about it."

She smiled at Coyote with the realization that she still had the upper hand.

"He'll come back for you, won't he? Now then, let's go home, my pet."

* * *

Marcus couldn't fight against the current. It dragged him further and further down the river as he tried to swim to the shore. It kept pulling him under for brief moments, leaving him only a few seconds to breathe and keep himself from falling unconscious from lack of oxygen. He kept looking at the platform. He had to get back to her…he had to save her…he had to…

He became too weak to think, and by the time he was finally washed ashore, he had no strength left. He crawled only five feet from the water before he collapsed on the ground and slipped into unconsciousness. As he did, several shapes emerged from the bushes and began to drag him away, all saying to each other that he was a fool to even think of coming here.

Little did they know that someone was watching them from the darkness, and didn't seem to care what they were doing until she saw Marcus.

"He can help me…I'm sure of it."


	17. 16: Hunted

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

**Hunted**

"No…let her go…let her…wha?"

Marcus stirred awake after what felt like an entire night to find himself (of all things) strapped to a pole, but not like the ones he had seen on the sacrificial platform. It took him a moment to shake off the nausea of being tossed about in the raging waters of a river and while being strapped to a pole seemed a little familiar, that was it. Everything else was completely new…like the ten blue-furred, scantily-clad, and very angry-looking women surrounding him with spears.

"What the…" he started, looking at his bonds before glaring at the women. He knew in a second exactly what they wanted with him. "Untie me right now!"

The closest one slapped him hard across the face and started yelling back at him in Cerinian.

"Iae kyxx gcuow ktub gcawub ha!" she yelled.

Marcus knew exactly what that meant, and he didn't like it.

"Yeah, well, fuck you, too!" he spat.

Suddenly, another woman who didn't have a spear approached him. She was regally dressed but was still just as scantily clad as the others. The most important thing was that her eyes were completely bloodshot and she had an overall malevolent air about her. That alone was enough to make our hero dislike her, but it only got worse once they struck up a conversation.

"Who are you supposed to be?"

"Ah. A Cornerian, are you?"

"Damn right I'm a Cornerian, and like a Cornerian I don't like being bonded for no reason."

The woman grabbed his throat and squeezed harshly, forcing Marcus to gag on whatever other words he had.

"Hold your tongue, boy. Like you don't appreciate being bonded, I don't appreciate being talked back to."

She released his neck before leaning in closer.

"My name is Aphrodite, Queen of Cerinia, and I deal harshly with sharp-tongued intruders… or any kind of intruders, for that matter."

"I don't mean any harm towards you or your people."

"Regardless of that, I'm sure you'll make a wonderful sacrifice to our goddess."

"Shit. They ARE worshipping Kursed…"  
"What was that?"

"Nothing…"

"No matter. You won't need to repeat yourself after we're done with you."

"Hold on. You don't understand. My name is Mar…"

"Silence. I care not what you have to say, and neither will you in a few moments."

She turned to the other tribeswomen.

"Do with him what you will. I have other matters to attend to."

She snapped her fingers and disappeared, leaving the tribeswomen to menacingly approach, raising their spears.

"Oh, shit." Marcus thought. "Oh shit oh shit oh…aha!"

He noticed now that he wasn't spread-eagled against the pole. He simply had his hands tied behind it, and thankfully he could feel a loose knot. He quickly began to work at it with his fingers, but he knew a few seconds wasn't going to be enough time to get loose.

He decided he'd have to resort to the oldest trick in the book.

"What the hell is that?!" he yelled, looking behind the tribeswomen.

Apparently the book hadn't been published on Cerinia, because they looked. Even just that one moment was enough for Marcus to loosen the knot enough to get loose…and whip the rope out from behind the pole and use it as a weapon.

"Heads up! …oops! Too late!"

The monkey fist end of the rope slammed into the tribeswomen's heads, knocking them all into a state of dizziness and giving Marcus enough time to flip over them, sling the rope over his shoulder in case he needed it later, and slide down a nearby slope to begin his escape.

"Qabh xuh htoh febh suh okoi!" one of the tribeswomen yelled.

"You know I can understand what you're saying, right?! I may be arrogant, but I ain't stupid…and I know I'm a little late in asking this, but where the hell are all the guys?!"

He picked up his pace as the women began running after him until he was flat out sprinting across the grass, jumping over small trenches, hopping over a stone ledge here, wall-kicking to get up to another ledge there. His lungs were ready to burst from both panic and exhaustion, but there was no way in hell he could stop now. One wrong move and he'd find a spear sticking out of his chest.

And for a moment, it looked like it would end up that way as the women began throwing the spears at him like javelins. Thankfully, his ESP was kicked into high gear and he was able to dodge them and (better still) even manage to catch one and throw it back at them.

Finally, after taking a true dare and jumping into a rather deep trench and sliding along the wall to prevent any serious injury, he seemed to have fully escaped. All ten of the tribeswomen looked down at him angrily, all of them having lost their spears.

"Iae zahtufrepwuf!" one of them yelled at him.

"Language, young lady!" Marcus mocked.

At first it seemed like Marcus was in the clear, but then it happened: the women noticed a boulder conveniently sitting next to them, and as soon as one of them got a smirk on her face, Marcus began fearing he'd have to start running again at a breakneck speed to get out of this predicament.

"They wouldn't…"

They did. The ten women slammed their backs against the boulder and pushed until it rolled down the incredibly steep slope leading into the trench and began rolling after Marcus.

"Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit SHIT!"

He took off running in probably one of the most obvious _Resident Evil 4_ rip-offs you've ever seen, going faster and faster still and yet never getting any distance from the boulder, and judging from how narrow the trench was, diving out of the way wouldn't cut it. The whole thing felt like one giant quick-time event, where if he didn't make the right move at the right time, he was…well, I didn't want to use any strong profanity since I'm the narrator, but here goes: if he didn't make the right move at the right time, he was filibustered…what?

And he saw that he'd have to make that right move sooner than anticipated, because in he and the boulder were closing fast on a massive ravine.

"I said it once and I'll say it again… Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit SHIT!"

There was no possible way he could jump over something like that, even with his miraculous enhancement. In a last ditch effort, he looked up. Thankfully, coming out of a cliff jutting out from the ravine was what looked like a tree, with one of its branches sticking out far enough that it was certainly possible that bringing the rope was a good idea on his part.

"Just gotta give it my best throw…" Marcus panted, grabbing the rope off his shoulder and twirling it around a little bit before throwing it as high as he could.

Success! The monkey first end wrapped around the branch and Marcus was able to swing like Tarzan and jump to safety as the boulder fell into the abyss. Or at least, he thought he was safe, because as soon as he landed, his foot slipped and he only had time to grab the ledge with one hand. Since he had spent all of his energy running from both the Cerinian natives and the boulder, he had almost no energy to even try and pull himself up.

Let it be known I said almost. With a moment of struggling, he managed to grab the ledge with both hands before hauling himself up and out of danger. Before running off, he took one look down into the ravine. There was no sign of any sort of life down there, and with good reason because all he could see was blackness.

He said nothing. He just took a moment to catch his breath before walking off into the forest, following the dirt path and not caring to look at the oddly hued leaves and plants. He didn't care. He just wanted to get back to the warp point and get off the planet.

"No…I can't get off the planet yet. I have to save Coyote…there's no telling what Kursed will do to her. Wait a second…"

He felt around at his back. He felt nothing…and that was the problem.

"My staff!"

**A few lost causes of walking later…**

Marcus stumbled his way into a small stream, got down on his knees, and started cupping the water up into his mouth. His head had been aching for the past few hours as he had been walking around with no sense of direction or, for that matter, any idea where to go. The entire evil aura about this place was starting to give him a migraine.

There no questioning or denying it. He was lost. Lost on a planet he couldn't get off of simply because of pure devotion.

"I have to save her…but where is she?"

He sighed and continued to cup the refreshing water into his mouth, but he stopped when he got the suspicious feeling of someone watching him. He looked up in dread which turned to shock when he met with the face of another Cerinian tribeswoman. He let out a loud yelp and jumped backwards before he realized that she had been looking at him in wonder, and now that she could see his face, she smiled and came closer to him.

"B-back off!" Marcus hollered. "I'm warning you!"

She still came closer until finally their faces were just inches apart, and in a swift motion, she embraced him.

"Marcus…I finally get to meet you." she said happily.

Marcus sat in confusion as the girl held him lovingly, beginning to get slightly disturbed. In fact, this whole world disturbed him. He didn't know if it was because of how primitive it was compared to Corneria or if it was because the women seemed to be trying to expose as much of their bodies as possible without looking too indecent (it happens), but he really wanted to get off the planet now that this girl had taken an attraction to him. But there was a bright side to it. At least she could speak English.

The girl finally parted from him and took his hand right as she heard something approaching.

"Come with me." she said.

"Doesn't look like I have much of a choice." Marcus thought sourly.

He allowed her to drag him along through the forest quickly, his heart racing the entire way from fear that she was probably just going to throw him in a pit of giant snakes or venomous spiders, but no. She didn't. She led him to what appeared to be a large treehouse, and she was quick to flip back and forth between trees and wall-kicking to get up to the platform, showing off her amazing agility.

"Hurry." she said, offering her hand down to him.

Marcus looked behind him to make sure that there was no one that would see or hear him, then took a flying leap at the Cerinian's hand. She grabbed him as soon as he came close enough and showed off some incredible strength by hauling him up after her. She then shocked him again by pressing her body flat against him and forcing them both to roll inside the house. Before he could object to it, she pressed a finger to his mouth and pricked her ears up to listen carefully. There were footsteps below them, and they seemed to stop for a moment as their owners sniffed at the air.

"I could swear I saw her here a minute ago!" one of the women said in their native tongue.

"Keep looking! There's no way she could have gotten too far!"

The footsteps proceeded until finally they were gone. The girl got off of Marcus, who right away spotted something leaning up against the wall.

"Hey, that's my staff!" he said. "How did you get it?"

"It fell by the riverbank when they dragged you off to be executed."

Marcus retrieved his staff, checked it over for dents or scratches, and clipped it back onto his belt.

"Thanks…so who are you?"

The girl looked at him with a warm smile.

"My name is Aileen. And you're Marcus James McCloud."

Aileen...he remembered the vision of the girl watching her father being decapitated right in front of her. This was that same girl? She certainly seemed world-worn as one would be after something such as that. There was a bigger question at hand, however.

"…how do you know my name?"

"That's not important. I need your help."

"Uhh…alright. With what?"

Aileen looked out the window and pointed to a shady stone building far off in the distance. Marcus could just barely see it through the fog clouding around its towers, but he could immediately see the infamous symbol that Kursed had associated herself with.

"What about it?"

"I saw some of the villagers drag a man in there not too long ago. I think they have the intention of sacrificing him to the evil spirit."

"And let me guess: you want me to help you get him out."

"Precisely. Will you help me?"

"Don't worry, kid. I'm there as soon as you mention anyone being in danger."

Aileen smiled and nodded.

"Okay. Let's go, but be sure to stay quiet. The villagers may still be out scouting."

She performed a ninja-like flip and landed perfectly back on the ground, whereas Marcus had to slowly edge himself down to avoid breaking his legs. As soon as he had set foot on the soft earth, the two of them took off running toward the temple. For quite a few moments, Marcus looked up at the sky in moderate disbelief. It had been nighttime when the team had landed, and he had been running around looking for where to go for hours.

"Sheesh. Sure is taking a long time for the sun to rise." he said aloud.

"The sun hasn't risen here in three years, Marcus."

"…huh?"

"It's too complicated to explain. We have to rescue the man I saw first. Then I'll take you and him to see the village shaman."

"I thought we were trying to stay away from the villagers."

"The shaman is a pure being who lives outside of the village. She's a very wise woman, Marcus. You'll be glad I took you to her."

Aileen stopped running, stretching out her arm to stop Marcus from going any further.

"We're here."

The temple looked even more ominous now that the two of them were standing right in front of it. The stones that had been used to build it looked black as charcoal, and the temple itself was almost sky-high. Marcus sucked in a breath.  
"Well then, let's get in there and save the guy."

"There's bound to be someone in there. Running in like a grimtiger will be suicide."

"Two questions. One: what the hell is a grimtiger? Two: what do you suggest?"

"Two answers. One: I'll explain later. Two: you sneak inside through the window at the back, and I'll create a distraction so that the villagers inside will come outside and give you enough time to unbind him and get him out."

"The only sane person on this planet so far AND a decent strategist. I'm starting to like you already."

Aileen gave him a warm smile.

"Thank you. Now get going! There isn't much time!"

"Right."

Marcus took off towards the back of the temple, rounding a few corners until he reached it. He didn't think about what was going on with this planet, what the villagers were doing sacrificing innocent men to Kursed, and just who this Aileen person was, but did he really have any choice but to just do as she said? After all, she just saved him. The least he could do was help her.

He spotted a small rut just above his head, and high above it was a stained-glass window. He didn't make a second thought; he jammed the spear end of the staff into the rut, pulled himself up and crouched down on top of it. He then put down as much of his body weight onto the staff as he could before extending his legs and launching himself up towards the window, seizing the ledge underneath it. Finally, he sucked in a breath before athletically flipping upwards and smashing through the window, landing on a wooden platform high above the temple's main room. It wasn't until he heard voices that he realized just how big of a noise he had made.

"What in the Great Mother's name was that?!" a native said.

"Don't ask what it was. Go see for yourself. I'll stay here and finish the ritual."

"Fine."

Marcus pressed himself flat against the floor, looking down through a crack in the boards to see two natives. One was proceeding up a set of stairs to the platform he was on, while the other was standing in front of a man strapped to a sacrificial post similar to the one Marcus was on not too long ago. Speaking of the man, he was a tall, blue-furred cat that looked to be in his later adult years, though he was certainly nowhere near Peppy's age. He wore a leather jacket, a red muscle shirt, worn jeans, and of course a terrified look on his gagged face.

The man let out a series of muffled screams, to which the native in front of him responded by slapping him across the face.

"Be silent." she said coldly. "Screaming isn't going to save you from your only purpose on our beloved world."

Marcus gritted his teeth and was about to jump down to save this poor man, when he realized that he had made the stupid decision of just leaving his staff outside. Before he could even think of leaning out the window and telepathically retrieving it, he heard the footsteps of the other native slowly getting closer.

"Damn…guess there's only one thing for it."

The moment the Cerinian stepped onto the platform to look at what had happened, Marcus jumped out of the shadows, covered her mouth and hit her hard on the back of her head. She was unconscious before she even hit the ground, where Marcus gently placed her on her back. Just when it looked like that the other one was going to stab the knife in her hand into the man's chest, a loud clatter sounded from outside. She lowered her knife and looked over in moderate confusion.

"What in Echo's name could that be?"

"The Echo again, huh?" Marcus thought.

Thankfully, the woman walked outside to inspect what had just happened, and as soon as he heard the door close, Marcus dashed down the stairs after taking the unconscious native's knife. The man took one look at him and started thrashing about again, thinking that Marcus was no different from the others, though he was in for the relief of his life when the gag was removed from his mouth. The man took in a few deep breathes and then spoke.

"Nice of you to drop in."

Marcus nodded before getting around behind him and beginning to cut the ropes.

"So I guess you're not like them?" the man asked.

"No." Marcus replied. "Far from it."

"Peachy. So who are you?"

"Name's Marcus. Marcus James McCloud."

"Wait…you must be related to Fox McCloud, then."

"I'm his son. What's it to you?"

"A guy can ask questions, can't he?"

The knife finally split the ropes and the man was able to step forward and stretch.

"Phew. Thanks for that. Never once have I had a girl get that upset with me."

"It happens. And you are?"

"Isaac Monroe. Professional vigilante at your service."

"Katt's brother, eh? She's talked about you before."

"How do you know my…Falco, right?"

"They're married."

Isaac stumbled backwards in near disbelief and ran his fingers through his fur.

"Are you serious?! That knucklehead finally settled down, and with my big sister no less?!"

"Will you keep you it down? You're gonna draw the whole forest towards us if you keep that up."

"Sorry…you got a smoke?"

"Nope."

"Gum?"

"Nada."

"Balls of steel?"

"My buddy does, but I don't know about me. Do you?"

"More or less. So what are you doing here?"

"I should be asking the same thing."

"Oh, good. You got him loose." Aileen sighed as she came inside the building.

"Uhh…" Isaac said nervously.

"Don't worry. She's cool." said Marcus.

"Sorry…she just looks a little too well-armed to be necessarily friendly."

"Well-armed?"

Aileen flashed Marcus the twin swords slipped to the belt around her torso.

"Huh. That answers that. Come to think of it, why are the other natives hunting you, let alone taking the two of us prisoner?"

"You know Kursed?"

"…unfortunately. Why?"

"Come with me. Both of you."

"Where now?"

Aileen looked over her shoulder just as she was ready to head out the door.

"To have your questions answered."

_How 'bout that? Two chapters in one update._

_I finished these two a bit ahead of schedule, so I decided I'm going to move up the deadline of that contest I have going on (Go back about two chapters if you have no __idea what I'm talking about). Now the contest will be over when I upload the twentieth chapter. That's a bit more fair, right? For those of you who know what I'm talking about and are participating, be sure to send me a message as soon as your entry is finished. I'm looking forward to seeing it._

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare- _"Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "_Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

_Coyote versus the shadows- _"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson

_The star Lylat- _Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime

_Marcus and Fox/Marcus and Chase- "_Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

_Fox versus Kursed- _"Du Hast" by Rammstein

_Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- _Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)

_The Nightstriker- _"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath

_The death of Commander Dane- _"Mad World" by Gary Jules

_The prisoners of Kew- _Byelomorye Dam from Goldeneye 64

_Escape from Sargasso- _"Hard to See" by Five Finger Death Punch

_Marcus and Wolf versus Master Hand and Crazy Hand- _Final Destination from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

_To Cerinia- "_Laser Cannon Deth Sentence" by Dethklok

_Aileen- _"Working Class Hero" by Green Day (Originally by John Lennon)


	18. 17: Backstories

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

**Backstories**

"How much longer?" Isaac groaned.

"Just a little further." Aileen replied. "Stop whining. Are you a man or not?"

"I'm a man…just a man with very low patience, that's all."

The three had been trekking through the rainforest for what had seemed like a half hour before they seemed to be getting anywhere. Aileen had only given vague descriptions of where they were going with such phrases as "she can tell you exactly what you need to know". While Marcus just accepted this and decided to go with it (it wasn't like questioning it was going to help him in the long run), Isaac wouldn't stop complaining, and as we all know, that isn't the mark of a true survivor…hence why I don't like camping.

"God, my feet are killing me…" he groaned.

"No sense whining about it." said Marcus. "Now keep walking."

Aileen suddenly stopped in front of a rather large tent that was half-hidden underneath the undergrowth.

"I'll go first. I need to introduce the two of you before she can help you."

"Who's she?" Isaac asked.

Aileen ignored his question and walked into the tent, leaving the two boys outside.

"Fine. Be that way…so what are you doing here, Marcus?"

"I'm here because I'm going to take down that bitch that these people worship as a goddess. The problem is that in order to call for backup, I need to get off the planet first, and I can't do that. Physically I can, but…there's something very precious to me that's still here."

"What?"

Marcus dug around in his pocket and produced his wallet, pulling out a picture of him and Coyote. Isaac looked the picture and whistled like a wolf.

"Hoo, nelly, that's one hot piece of ace!"

"As weird as you just put it, I can't argue against that statement."

"Man, with a honey like that under my command, I'd be so…"

Marcus plucked the picture out of Isaac's hand and looked him dead in the face.

"You're in your forties. She's nineteen. You'll wanna stop talking now."

"Seems a little more than that is making you hostile."

"…I'm not being hostile."

"Uh, yeah, you are. Come on, what's up?"

"I already said she's precious to me. What more do you want?"

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"Isn't it obvious?!"  
"Precious could mean many things. She could be your sister or your cousin or whatever."

"Well, she's my girlfriend. End of story."

Isaac lightly slapped Marcus on the shoulder.

"Come on, man. Talk to me. What's she like? Who is she?"

"Her name is Coyote O'Donnell."

"Wait…as in Wolf O'Donnell?"  
"His daughter."

"How the hell is that even possible?"

"Star Wolf's been vindicated of all their crimes. Where have you been for the past three years?"

Isaac sighed and scratched at the back of his head.

"More like the past…fuck, I don't even know how long it's been, but my sister and I just sort of fell outta contact over the years. Probably 'cause she started working for the Cornerian Army but I stayed a vigilante."

"Yeah, you were in a group called the Hot Rodders, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. Anyway, we sort of just went our separate ways and I kinda became just one of those guys who explores the cosmos just for the sake of doing it. I kinda just happened upon this place a couple weeks ago and I was exploring it for a while before that Aphrodite girl found me, and…well, you saw the result."

"That I did. What I wanna know is why these people think worshipping Kursed is a good idea."

It looked like they were about to find out as Aileen poked her head through the tent opening.

"She's ready for you." she said. "Don't worry about a thing. There's no question she can't answer for you."

"Who exactly are we seeing?" Marcus asked.

"Our tribe's soothsayer, Persephone. She's wise beyond her years…and that's really saying something considering she's hundreds of years old."

"Huh…what a privilege."

The two men followed Aileen into the tent, finding it to be far stranger than either of them would have predicted. Ethereal blue globes of light floated about, and as Marcus reached out to touch one of them, it vanished and reappeared a few feet away from him. What greatly shocked the two of them was that the tent was much larger on the inside. The entire room seemed to resemble some sort of eighteenth-century library what with several shelves filled with books in a language that Marcus could read but Isaac couldn't. A little ways away from them was a table that was barely raised off the floor, and seated behind it was a woman that was scantily-clad but wore a hood that covered most of her face. She looked up at the three people approaching her and smiled, only serving to shock Marcus and Isaac even more.

"I thought you said she was hundreds of years old!" Isaac sputtered.

"She is." Aileen replied.

"She doesn't look a day over fifteen!"

Persephone chuckled.

"Oh, Isaac Monroe. How pitiful it is that you cannot look beyond what you see."

"…huh?"

"Never mind. Come, children. Be seated…but boys, before you do. I must ask something of you."

Marcus and Isaac looked at each other with confused expressions.

"Uhh…okay, what is it?" asked the latter.

"I must ask that you remove the clothing on your legs as it does not allow me a good reading of your life essence."

Marcus and Isaac stood speechless before Marcus sputtered out his response.

"You want us to take off our pants?!"

Aileen burst out laughing.

"Relax, boys. She's joking."

"She better be…" Isaac grumbled.

"Anyway, come have a seat."

Marcus and Isaac hesitated to follow her direction for a brief moment (after all, they had just been asked to perform a striptease for a supposedly centuries-old woman), but decided against refusing it. They sat, though not without eyeing this strange woman very curiously.

"Marcus James McCloud." Persephone said, turning to her aforementioned guest. "It is no act of convenience that you have found yourself here."

"Uhh…no, it's not. I'm here because I…"

"You intend to destroy the being you have come to know as Kursed."

"Yeah."

Every ability had to start somewhere. If Krystal had the ability to read minds, there was no doubt that many other Cerinians could do the same.

"What is Kursed to you, Marcus?"  
"…the epitome of monstrosity."

"Why so?"

"She's killed innocent people, she's hurt some of my closest friends, she's tortured my family…I hate her. I always will hate her."

"I see. Before I…how should I put this…tear your argument to shreds, let us discuss exactly what is going on. As you may know already, the people of this world have announced her as a deity. In order to properly analyze this, we will examine the backstory."

Pay attention. This is gonna be on the test later…no! FANFIC! YOU ARE NOT SCHOOL! KNOW YOUR PLACE!

"We don't have time for something like this!" Marcus interrupted. "The girl I love has been kidnapped by that bitch and I'll be damned if I don't do anything about it now."

"Marcus." Aileen said calmly. "Please listen to her. There's nothing you can do about it right now."

"That's easy for you to…"

He realized that he had no right to say that. He knew the hole in his argument before he had even said the sentence, and this only served to make him feel guiltier. With that in mind, he was silent.

"It is of great importance, my young friend." Persephone continued. "It involves your family in greater way than you know."

The mood shifted and became increasingly deeper as the soothsayer narrated her story.

"Many decades ago, there existed a being known as Shadow. She knew nothing of how she came to exist or why she existed, but she found herself simply emerging in a place that she decided to call the Echo."

The Echo…so there was a much deeper meaning to this proclaimed hell in Outer Space. This served to make Marcus more intrigued.

"Searching around in the Echo, Shadow made her way to this planet. Upon arriving there, she met a young boy who was the son of the tribe's chieftain, and as it turns out, his name was Marcus."

Marcus knew full well that his maternal grandfather was also named Marcus, though Krystal never seemed to talk about him much.

"The two were married shortly after their meeting, and thus they gave birth to two children."

Marcus spoke aloud.

"Krystal and Sabre."

"Yes." Persephone confirmed. "However, Krystal, their firstborn, suffered from something that caused her to be seen as abnormal since she seemed to be one person one moment and then another one in another moment. Not a split personality case, but within her body dwelled two souls rather than one. The first was the one that had been seen since the child was born, but the other slowly took time to build itself up and only revealed itself when Krystal was sad or angry. She told her parents that she kept hearing voices in her head, and upon the other villagers finding out about this, a ritual was performed to keep the second soul dormant."

"So you're saying that Kursed was born as a parasite and just leeched of my mother until she could create her own body."

"Yes. Unfortunately, in order to perform this ritual, Shadow and Marcus were forced to give up their lives to help their child. While Marcus' soul was taken to the heavens, Shadow was pulled back into the Echo and to this day still dwells within it. Shortly after the ritual was completed, the planet was destroyed by a powerful being seeking to resurrect himself."

"Andross."  
"If that is what you refer to him as. When you were born, Marcus, the planet pulled itself back together and everyone carried on their lives as though no time had passed at all. With Marcus gone, Sabre was offered the title of chieftain as no one else was there to rule. Sabre refused the title and instead passed it on to a close friend of his who had been honoured with two children, Aphrodite and Hephaestus. With his normal life continuing, Sabre married and gave birth to a child."

"…who?"

"Believe it or not, Marcus, she sits before us at this moment."

All eyes were on Aileen, who was offering forth a smile to Marcus. Marcus himself grinned.

"No wonder you rescued me, eh, cousin?" he asked.

"Certainly not."

Persephone smiled at the small family reunion (though it wasn't really as such since these two had never met before) before continuing her story.

"Eventually, Aphrodite and Hephaestus' father died, leaving one of them to rule the tribe. Since Hephaestus was the older of the two, he was chosen as the heir to his father's title. Then Kursed returned to the planet, using her previous shunned state as leverage in order to threaten the tribe into making her their goddess, though promised she would bring them true glory. Kursed saw the jealousy burning in Aphrodite's naïve heart and used this to her advantage, making Aphrodite her 'mortal representative'. With this done, Aphrodite and her followers began a fast conquest of the entire planet, and Kursed's first order was…to have her own brother put to death right in front of his daughter."

Marcus had seen this event with his own eyes and he still couldn't believe he had just heard this. He also took note of the anger than had suddenly sprouted in Aileen's subconscious. She was furious at Kursed, but even more at Aphrodite.

"As soon as this deed was done," Persephone continued. "The sun set and to this day, it still has not risen. The followers of Kursed took no notice and carried out her second order: enslave the male population, and that is where Aileen played her most important role. After only just witnessing her father's death, she ran to Hephaestus to warn him of the impending danger. He ordered her to gather as many of the children as she could and take them to the Sanctuary, stating that he would meet her there afterwards and the two of them would hopefully be able to defend against the evil forces. Unfortunately, the two were overpowered and could only fight for a few minutes before Hephaestus ordered Aileen to protect the children she had rescued. Aileen hid herself, while Hephaestus continued to fight until…"

Persephone stopped for a brief moment. What she had to say next unnerved her beyond belief, proving that even she couldn't believe that siblings could betray one another so easily. Yet, she continued.

"Aphrodite brought before her brother one of the two Abominations and had him turned to stone."

Marcus bit his lip so hard that it forced a trickle of blood out of it. Isaac sat in disbelief.

"Jesus Christ…" he muttered. "And I thought my relationship with my sister was bad…"

"With that finished, Aphrodite declared herself queen of Cerinia, and that once a week a sacrifice would be made to their goddess to feed her insatiable lust for life. Kursed assured her subjects that only one soul would be able to grant them the glory she had promised them."

"Let me guess." Marcus sighed. "Mine."

"Correct. You have been labelled the Miracle by these people, and they intend to sacrifice you to Kursed once they discover who you are, making it all the more of a relief that Aileen found you."

"…so what do we do?"

Aileen stood.

"First, we need to put Aphrodite out of power for good. Kursed grows stronger every time someone is sacrificed to her, so if we cut off her food source…"

"You cannot fool me, child." Persephone said sternly. "This is simply a ruse for you to kill Aphrodite."

"She killed my father right in front of me! You don't expect me to just talk it out with her, do you?"

"Defeat Aphrodite if you must, but do not kill her. Killing her will not bring back Sabre. Besides, you cannot even hope to approach her in the state you and your company are in now."

Aileen furrowed her brow and nearly shook with anger, but she sighed and turned away regardless of how furious she was.

"Like she has said, though, if you are to even come close to Kursed," Persephone spoke up. "You must defeat Aphrodite, but you cannot do this at the moment. The place in which Aphrodite dwells is heavily guarded by her subjects, and the only proper way in is through a rear entrance. Unfortunately, there are two keys that are required in order to open this rear entrance, and they are both held by the two Abominations."

"…well, that doesn't sound pretty." Isaac replied.

"Indeed. There is someone who is vital in assisting you since you three alone are not enough to destroy them."

"Wait, aren't you going to help us?"  
"I am afraid not. I am not really a fighter, I am more of a…what is the term…spiritual guide…from very far away."

"…yeah, that's incredibly reassuring. Thanks."

"Come. Aileen and I will take you to him."

Persephone and Aileen stepped outside, motioning for Isaac and Marcus to follow. As soon as the two stepped outside, Aileen pulled something from the pouch clipped to her belt: a small whistle. Bringing it to her lips, she blew into it and sent a soft melody echoing throughout the air. It was very pleasant to listen to, but something unnerved them. Right as she finished playing, a loud roar could be heard halfway across the forest.

All at once, Marcus' ESP kicked in and warned him that something was coming at them…something enormous.

"Get down!" he yelled.

Marcus and Isaac flung themselves to the ground just as something leaped out from the bushes and landed right in front of them. What the beast could be was uncertain, but what it resembled was a massive tiger. It approached Aileen almost menacingly, forcing Marcus to get to his feet and draw his staff.

"Get away from her, you…wha?"

As soon as the creature was directly in front of Aileen, it let out a happy groan and gently licked her face. Aileen responded with a laugh, followed by gently whispering into the creature's ear and kissing its cheek.

"Okay, first order of business: what the fuck is that?!" Isaac sputtered. "Second order of business: why the fuck are you talking to it?!"

"This is Telia." Aileen said. "She's my pet grimtiger."

"Oh, so THAT'S what that is." Marcus said in an enlightened tone…fitting since he was enlightened…hope you're taking notes.

Aileen hopped up on Telia's back and helped Persephone up afterwards. Marcus and Isaac were about to join her when Aileen held up her hand.

"Not yet. First she needs to know she can trust you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Isaac demanded.

"Grimtigers can look into the soul of any being with their eyes and see the good and bad in them. Telia's only going to let you ride her if you come across as a dependable and kind person. Stand in front of her and look her straight in the eyes."

Isaac looked at the large (and probably carnivorous) creature for only a few moments and immediately said, "Not it." With that done, Marcus cautiously stepped in front of Telia and let her stare directly into his eyes. She moved toward him, as if entranced by him. She came close enough that Marcus could feel her breath steadily ruffling his fur. At last, the creature blinked and seemed to smile before reaching out with her paw and gently seizing Marcus around his middle. Before he knew it, she had lifted him up and placed him comfortably on her back.

Isaac smirked.

"Well, piece of cake, then. Okay, Telia, my turn."

Telia instead glared at Isaac and growled. Isaac backed away.

"What was that all about?"

Aileen shrugged.

"Beats me. I guess she doesn't like you."

"So what's that mean?"

"Sorry, Isaac. You're walking."

"You gotta be shittin' me!"

"No. Get moving."

Isaac threw his arms up in defeat and began trudging along with Telia following close behind. A smirk spread across Aileen's face and she whispered something into Telia's ear. The grimtiger winked at her master before gently leaning her head down towards Isaac and…

"EEEYEOW! THAT THING BIT ME IN THE ASS!"

All that could be heard throughout the jungle for several minutes was loud hoots of laughter.

**Arriving at the Sanctuary…**

The so-called Sanctuary was sealed by a large stone that required Persephone to stand in front of it and recite a very long incantation. While they waited, the other three spoke amongst one another.

"So the other natives are after you because you refused to convert to their ways?" Marcus asked.

"Yes." Aileen said, steadily beginning to grow angrier the more she thought about it. "They're cowards. They let that monster push them around instead of fighting back. It's not like we don't know how to defend ourselves so really…I think it's just like Persephone said: Aphrodite just wanted power at any cost. She wanted feel like she mattered when the tribe declared Hephaestus the father's heir instead of her…nothing hurts more than when family betrays you."

She sighed and turned away from Marcus. Even though she knew he could help her (hell, he HAD to help her), she felt guilty for dragging him into something that he in all seriousness didn't need to go through. He had his own problems and she was keeping him from them. Little did she know that he genuinely wanted to help her. He wanted to save Coyote, there was no way to talk him out of it. However, he knew this one thing: everyone on this planet was suffering. Not a small group of them. Every single person was going through the worst of pains, and if there was anything he could do to help them, he would.

With the final words spoken, the stone rolled out of the way and allowed the group to proceed into the dark Sanctuary. Aileen motioned for Marcus to light a small patch of liquid on a low wall nearby, and using his staff's Fire Blaster ability to do so, the room lit up as the flames licked across the wall. As the light increased, Marcus saw something very shocking: a statue of a teenage boy who showed an expression of complete shock.

"Is that him?" he asked.

"Yes." Persephone replied solemnly. "That is Hephaestus."

Marcus took a few moments to look at the imprisoned figure. He was tall, probably just over Marcus' height (which was about six feet), and also had a very toned and muscular figure. It complimented the greatsword lying on the ground next to him which Marcus theorized may have been the weapon he had been using. For clothing, he wore a belt and a loin cloth that extended down his legs and shaped into greaves, while he wore nothing on his torso.

Marcus continued to stare at him until something brushed up against his hand. Turning to look, he saw something even more surprising: it was a small child, holding his hand and looking up at him with frightened eyes. As he continued to stand there in wonder, more children showed themselves from behind pillars and within secret passages. The moment they saw Aileen and Persephone, they knew it was safe to come out. They grouped around the two women, who quickly knelt down to comfort them.

"These children had their parents taken away when Aphrodite assumed power." Aileen said, embracing one young boy to stop him from crying. "Some of them can't even remember what their mother and father look like."

"Marcus…are you going to get our parents back?" asked the little girl holding on to Marcus' hand.

Marcus looked deep into her eyes with a saddened expression. It was so easy to shove tyranny and war out of your mind until one of their victims was looking you right in the face. It was enough that Kursed had caused him and his friends to suffer, but now her home planet?

He knelt down in front of the little girl and gently took her hand.  
"What's your name?" he asked softly."

"My name? …it's Cera."

"Cera, I'm going to try my best to get your parents back, but I need you to be strong for me, okay? Your parents are alright. They just need you to trust me."

Cera slowly began to smile with a happy tear dripping from her eye. Marcus wiped it away for her and smiled back.

"Now, it is time that the true ruler of this tribe was freed from his prison." Persephone said, standing in front of Hephaestus.

She began muttering several words over and over again, steadily increasing the volume of her voice every time she did so. As she did this, a brilliant light erupted from her hands and encircled the statue, slowly yet surely enveloping it. With one final shout, she turned to Marcus.

"Strike!" she yelled.

Marcus had no idea what she meant by that for a brief moment, but it took no genius to realize that she was talking about his staff. With it extended and his grip tightened on it, he stabbed it into the statue. A loud hissing noise echoed through the air and the light got brighter to the point where everyone had to shield their eyes. When the light faded, everyone witnessed a magnificent sight: Hephaestus was on his knees, panting heavily and looking confused, but certainly alive.

"What the devil just…where am I?" he mumbled.

Aileen knelt down and placed her hands on Hephaestus' cheeks.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"Disoriented to say the least…what happened?"

It took the group a moment to explain what was going on. While they did so, Hephaestus took his time getting his head on straight (three years as a statue can certainly take its toll on your mindset), as well as tending to the children and comforting them.

"I see." he said when they had finished. "So you three are counting on me to help you get back at my sister."

"Yeah." Marcus said. "We know fighting your sibling isn't an easy thing to do, but…"

Before Marcus could even finish his sentence, Hephaestus picked up his sword and slung it into a massive sheath on his back.

"I'm in." he replied. "This world won't continue to suffer as long as I live."

"Splendid." Persephone said before reaching into her robe. "Oh, and Isaac? I have something that may be of interest to you."

Isaac turned to her and smiled almost maliciously when she produced a weapon for him: an AK-47 along with a long bullet belt. He slung the weapon and its ammunition onto his back.

"Now we're talking." he said with a smirk.

"The first of the keys is to the east of here." Persephone said. "Go. I shall stay here and protect the children should any of Kursed's followers come searching for them."

Marcus nodded.

"Godspeed to us all."

_For those of you wondering who the hell Isaac is, I'll cover that right now. Isaac is Katt's brother ("YOU DON'T SAY?"), and although I gave him a name, I didn't technically make him up. In the comic called "Farewell, Beloved Falco" which takes place between Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Adventures, we get to see Falco's old gang of vigilantes. One of them is a cat that looks eerily similar to Katt aside from his fur being blue while hers is pink. So, yeah...MYSTERY SOLVED!_

_Uhhh...yeah, that's it...'k, bye._


	19. 18: The Hunted Becomes the Hunter

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

**The Hunted Becomes the Hunter**

**Three miles east of the Sanctuary**

After walking a good distance, Isaac was once again complaining about his feet being sore, and to get him to finally stop whining, Aileen bargained with Telia to let him ride on her back. By that time, though, they were practically at the spot that Persephone had pointed out to be their first stop on their quest to take down Aphrodite.

"Remind me again why I'm coming along." Isaac demanded.

"We didn't make you do anything. You came out of your own volition." Aileen shot back.

"Well, you could have talked me out of it!"

"I doubt it. Besides, we could use a marksman…granted, I have no idea what that thing is that you're carrying, but it looks like a ranged weapon, so you're the marksman."

"Haven't there been any other people from other planets here before me?"

"Yes, and Aphrodite has sacrificed or executed every single one."

"Is there a difference?"  
"Sadly there is. Sacrificial rituals usually involve another step…I believe it was an Earth man named Sigmund Freud that coined the term 'id'. You know, that monstrous part of the mind that is our wants, like hunger and sexual desire…big emphasis on that last one."

"Oh, God…anyhow, good thinking. I'm the marksman. What does that make you?"

Aileen thought about it for a moment. What logical duty could she take?"  
"Hmm…I'm not too bad at sneaking around, proven by the fact that I haven't been caught by the other natives in three years. How about the spy?"

"Spy?" Isaac scoffed. "Kid, you may be fast, but you're no Ryu Hayabusa."  
"Who?"

"Never mind."

Hephaestus smirked.

"I'm quite enjoying this." he said. "I suppose if Aileen is the spy, I'll be the Minotaur."

"Minotaur?" Marcus questioned.

"It's a term we use on Cerinia for warriors who fight with larger weapons."

"So you're basically a Heavy Weapons Guy. I get it…how can you even lift that thing?"

"What's that phrase that people form your planet use? Work out and eat your green vegetables, if I'm not mistaken."

"Huh…so what am I?"

"Hmm…from what I understand, you are somehow fated to bring this calamity to an end…so I'd call you our leader."

"Whoa, whoa, what?! You can level a small building with that monster sword of yours and you're calling me your LEADER?!"

"Is there a problem with that?"

"Uhh…not really, I guess, but…really?!"

Aileen gently tapped at the back of Telia's head and she came to a halt.

"We're here."

The four of them hopped down from the huge cat's back and stood in front of a cave leading underground. It was hard to make out from the vines reaching down and covering it, but the most damning thing about it was the quiet yet still audible echoes escaping from the entrance.

"So what exactly is in there?" Marcus asked.

"So full of questions, eh?" Hephaestus smirked.

"Maybe, but I'm sensing something really big and really hostile down there…hence why it's called an Abomination, but whatever."

Aileen whispered something into Telia's ear. The grimtiger nodded and bounded off into the forest. Following this, Aileen turned to the men.

"Inside that cave is the same creature that turned Hephaestus to stone, and she did this simply by looking into his eyes."

"'She'?"

"Yes, 'she'. The first abomination is a creature named Medusa."

Is it just me, or are we referencing yet another famous Nintendo franchise?

"Okay…so what's the plan?" Isaac asked.

Marcus took a few moments to think about the situation. Since Medusa would turn you to stone if you looked directly into her eyes, attacking from the front would be a very bad idea. He snapped his fingers when he got the light he was looking for.

"First thing's first: we'll need to go in and pinpoint her location. Next, I'll create a diversion to lure her to wherever Hephaestus and Isaac will be hiding, with Aileen and I well hidden to attack her from behind once she gets there."

"Wait, why do I have to be the bait?!" Isaac whined.

"Because you'll make too much noise if you try to sneak up on her."

"How do you know that?"  
"Trust me: I know."

Isaac rolled his eyes.

"I honestly thought that Persephone was kidding when she said that you were psychic on the way to the Sanctuary, but do you really expect me to believe that?"

"Why not? It's true."

"Alright, I'll test you. I'm thinking of a number between one and one hundred. What is it?"

"Sixty-nine."

"Wha…how did you…"

"Two reason. One: I wasn't lying when I said I was psychic. Two: you seem like the kind of guy that would make that kind of joke. Moving on."

The group slowly began to proceed into the cavern, each with their own respective weapons ready. The cave itself wasn't pitch-black or anything, but it still forced the group to strain their eyes to see properly, and it still warranted the use of the glowing tip of Marcus' staff to light the way.

"One hundred bottles of beer on the wall, one hundred bottles of beer…" Isaac hummed in a bored tone. "Take one down and pass it around, ninety-nine bottles of beer…"

"What's that you're singing?" Aileen asked.

"Just some stupid drinking song. I don't think you're old enough to drink, anyway, so I wouldn't worry."

"I'm eighteen. I'm old enough to mate. Does that count?"

"Old enough to…what…never mind, that's just wrong. Why did you tell me that?"

"Does it count?"

"No…not where I'm from, at least."

"And speaking of mates." Hephaestus spoke up. "What is your mate like, Marcus?"

"She…she's not my mate."

"Then she is simply your friend?"  
"No, no. We're just dating right now…although I personally would like to take it to the next level."

"Ah, so you DO plan on mating with her soon enough."

"No! I meant marriage! Why are we even talking about this?"  
"The term is breaking the ice, I believe."

"Yeah, but that…that's disintegrating the ice and burning it up in a furnace!"

"I apologize. I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's alright. It wasn't upsetting, it just…came outta nowhere."

The sensation that Marcus got when he first sensed for the Abomination grew stronger.

"We're getting closer." he said through gritted teeth. "Keep your guard up."

Walking into a pitfall doesn't really help this matter, but that's sadly what happened. The four stepped forward and suddenly found themselves falling a great distance before landing flat on the dirt…or rather, Marcus landed flat on the dirt and everyone else came piling down on top of him. Nothing like a five-foot long sword smashing your back in, eh?

"Wasn't that just brilliant…ow…" Isaac groaned.

"Would you all get off of…" Marcus began, but stopped when his ears pricked up. "…what was that?"

The sound was a good distance away but was loud enough that Marcus could hear it. It sounded an awful lot like a low hissing noise, like a large reptilian creature stirring awake.

"Oh, shit. Oh shit, oh shit, man…" Isaac began panting. "What did I do to deserve this?"

Marcus' staff lit up at one end and revealed the quartet to be in a sort of stone labyrinth with the walls stopping a great distance below the ceiling. Marcus looked at Aileen and the two of them nodded before the latter wall-kicked her way up to the top and balanced herself before sinking down on all fours are carefully crawling along to avoid making any noise. With their minds linked, Marcus sensed for the creature again. He picked up its traces a little ways north of their current location.

With that said and done, he motioned for Isaac and Hephaestus to stay where they were as he slowly walked forward, trying his best not to make any sudden noises. It had to be around her somewhere.

After walking and rounding corners a few more times, he sensed for the creature again. It was near enough for him to put their plan into action. He carefully tapped his staff against the stone wall, sending the sound echoing throughout the labyrinth. He sensed again and found that the creature was steadily coming towards his position, and he thus began moving away from it back to where Isaac and Hephaestus were.

As he ran down the path, he sensed again after some time and found the creature was about to round the corner of the hall he was in. Unfortunately, it was still too far away from where Aileen had set up her trap. If Medusa rounded the corner and saw Marcus now, the whole plan was shot. Thankfully, he spotted a nook at the last second and ducked into it right as the Abomination came into view. He wasn't able to catch a glimpse of it, but he didn't have time to do so. He couldn't attack her yet, either. He needed support if he was going to take down this monstrosity.

With these facts in mind, Marcus squeezed himself as far back into the shadows of the nook as he could and stayed silent. Perfect timing, because Medusa suddenly stopped right in front of the nook. Her appearance was utterly shocking to say the least. While she thankfully didn't have snakes for hair (that would have doomed Marcus in seconds), she did have the lower body of one and the upper body of a standard Lylatian, not to mention she had to be at least fifty feet long The shocking part was which standard Lylatian she looked like.

"She…she looks like…"

He couldn't even finish his thought. Seeing something like this that looked like Krystal was almost too horrible for Marcus to bear through. He concealed his shock to the best of his ability, especially when Medusa turned her head to where he was hidden, prompting him to close his eyes.

This event was all too familiar, but last time it had just been a psychological test by a benevolent spirit. This time it was a real-life horror, made worse by the fact that the horror looked like one of the people he loved the most in the entire endless universe. Why did Medusa look like Krystal? Was there some deeper meaning behind it? Did Kursed see Krystal as a monster? Well, of course. Persephone had explained that to him black-and-white, clear as crystal. Kursed hated her sister. So in short, Kursed wasn't just a surrogate mother to Marcus. She was technically his aunt, as well…why was he thinking about this when there was a half-snake monster breathing down his neck.

By some divine act of God, Medusa hadn't seen him and continued to slither on after looking hard for several moments. As soon as Marcus was sure she was gone, he opened his eyes and took in a well-needed breath. Steadily, he stepped out of the nook and began quietly stepping toward the Abomination as she slithered along toward the team's trap. All of a sudden, she stopped.

"It's about time you came, Marcus." she said softly before turning around.

Marcus slammed his eyes shut and stood perfectly still. Any sudden movement would be sure to get her in the hunting mood, but the issue was that he wanted to start running the second she had spoken. Not only did she have Krystal's face and body, she had her voice too. Why did he feel so afraid? Was this the only thing he was really afraid of? To be loved by his mother for so long and then just have her turn against him?

No matter the case, he stayed perfectly still and kept his eyes shut as this beast loomed over him, gently bringing herself closer to his face.

"It's me, darling. It's Mother."

"You're…you're not my mother…"

"Oh, don't say things like that. Remember how you had a nightmare when you were little and I came to comfort you. You didn't cry, but you were still scared just like you are now."

"Leave me alone!"

"No, sweetie…I can't. I can't leave you knowing how much you're suffering."

Marcus felt Medusa wrap her arms around and bring him into a warm and soft embrace. It unnerved him that this creature was actively trying to kill him but she was treating him as though he were her actual child. No…he couldn't let that get to him. Whether it was or not, it was certainly frightening him. She looked, sounded, and even felt like Krystal, but no…that didn't mean she had the same love.

"Let me see your eyes, Marcus." she whispered. "Please…let me gaze into your sweet eyes."

Marcus shook his head, even though this embrace made him feel more welcomed by her. The thought of her being a monster taking the guise of his mother was somehow being twisted around to him thinking that maybe she wasn't so bad…maybe…maybe it would be alright to open his eyes for just a moment.

How foolish he was, because when he opened his eyes, it wasn't his mother in front of him even though it had the same face and upper body. She grabbed Marcus' head and forced him to look up into her malicious face.

"Bad luck, little puppy." she giggled with her eyes closed before gently leaning into towards his ear and coyly whispering, "Time to die."

She drew back and snapped her eyes wide open with that horrid smile still on her face. Marcus tried to look away but Medusa's hands kept his head in place and his eyes stretched open as he looked fearfully into her cold and almost dead eyes. She was beautiful, but that didn't stop him from feeling fear, especially when he felt his arm begin to grow increasingly colder and stiffer. This sensation steadily began to inch its way across his body, preparing to take him into a stone-cold sleep when…

"Ready a light snack, Medusa, for tonight you dine in Hell!" shouted Aileen as she came plummeting down to the ground with her blades raised over her head.

Medusa pushed Marcus away and dodged the blow. Aileen shut her eyes in an instant but still stood in a ready stance. Medusa smirked.

"You think you can fight me like that, you dumb little brat?"

"I can do a lot with my eyes closed. Trust me, you won't be disappointed."

While Aileen fended the beast off, Marcus crouched into the nook he'd been hiding in before and took a good look at his arm. He couldn't feel it anymore, and now he knew why. It had turned to solid rock just like Aileen had warned him it would.

"No biggie." he muttered. "I can fix this…I hope."

He raised his other hand over his petrified arm and uttered the same incantation he had uttered when Coyote had that sudden monstrous outburst.

"Cefyriybs Nefgh…" he whispered.

A light shined from his palm and draped itself over his ruined arm, only for it to regain the lost colour and his control of it. He clenched his fist a few times just to be sure, then looked back over the corner to see Aileen still slashing away at Medusa, who was dodging her attacks like nobody's business. Aileen had no time to prepare herself after blocking a heavy attack from Medusa's claws as the Abomination slammed her gigantic tail into the young Cerinian's stomach and sent her crashing against a wall.

"Hey…I remember you now." Medusa cackled. "You were in the Sanctuary when I turned that sweet prince Hephaestus to stone three years ago, weren't you? Didn't Queen Aphrodite cut your father's head off?"

"How dare you call that woman…no, that THING a queen!" Aileen growled before running at Medusa again.

Medusa sighed.

"When will you naïve little children learn?" she scoffed before seizing Aileen's neck and hauling her high off the ground. "Aileen, dear…won't you let me see your eyes?"

"No, but I'll gladly let you see my fist in your face, bitch!" yelled Marcus

Medusa turned just in time to see…well, Marcus' fist in her face. Upon being struck, she reeled backwards in pain and clutched at her now smarting face. Between her fingers, Marcus could see…nothing. Because he had his eyes shut, ya dummy!

"You little rat…" the Abomination hissed.

"Joke's on you." Marcus replied. "I'm a fox."

"You know what I mean."

"No, actually I don't. Please elaborate. I'm so interested."

Medusa hissed and slammed her tail downward. Marcus rolled out of the way at the sound of the tail lifting without even having to open his eyes for a quick peek. His ESP was kicked up enough that he could sense her every move, making him wonder why it hadn't reacted when he first saw her. Maybe it was because he had been dealing with the shock of Medusa looking like Krystal and now he'd recovered judging from the fact that his mother would never do something like that to him, but what do I know, right?

When he heard a loud crash, Marcus thought for sure that Medusa had slammed her tail hard enough to crack the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he saw that wasn't so. Hephaestus had sliced a piece of the wall off and had dropped it down on the half-snake monster.

"Remember me?" he scoffed before grasping the hilt of his blade and swinging as hard as he could.

Medusa wasn't quite dazed enough to not get out of the way in time, though it startled her just how much of an impact Hephaestus made in the dirt when his massive blade hit the ground. She looked up and growled, not helped when the Cerinian prince shielded his eyes.

"You…I thought you'd learned your lesson, fair prince Hephaestus."

"You just can't keep a good man down."

Medusa hissed again and swung her tail at Hephaestus. He blocked it, though it still sent him sliding backwards slightly.

"Where the hell is Isaac?!" Marcus shouted. "He's supposed to be backing us up!"

"You're not going to believe this when I say it, but that damned coward ran away like a child!"

"You gotta be shittin' me! He's got a freakin' machine gun and he thinks that this thing is too much of a challenge for that?!"

"It seems like…LOOK OUT!"

Too late. Medusa had seized Marcus in one hand, Aileen in the other, and had wrapped Hephaestus up in her tail. As if cutting off their air supply wasn't enough, she began to speak incredibly intimidating things to them that only made the tense situation even worse, not helped by the fact that their only backup had bailed on them.

"I haven't had a decent meal in some time," she said. "So I'll give you two natives the honour of being my dinner for tonight."

"We'll give you indigestion, bitch!" Aileen spat.

"Even so, you're too delicious for me to think otherwise. And as for you, Marcus, I'm afraid I'll have to freeze you until the Great Mother comes to collect you. Hopefully she lets me keep your body. I have such a fine collection of statues, and you'd make quite the…"

What replaced the last word was a loud gunshot that echoed throughout the whole labyrinth. Medusa's eyes suddenly bugged out when she realized that something had just surged through the back of her head and came out the other side. Blood came dripping down her face before she collapsed forward, dropping Marcus and Aileen and loosening her grip on Hephaestus.

"Hoo, boy, I thought she'd never shut up." Isaac sighed from his perch on the nearby wall, smirking when saw the looks on the rest of the group's faces. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did you guys want to kill her?"

"Wait…you were just getting in a good enough spot to snipe her?"

"Yep. You can hear and see everything on top of these walls…especially rude comments about cowardice."

Hephaestus scratched at the back of his head as he freed himself from Medusa's tail.

"Uhh…listen, Isaac, I…"

"Don't worry about it." Isaac replied as he hopped down from the wall and clipped the gun on his back again. "You had every right to doubt me. I haven't really done any group work since I was in the Hot Rodders."

The four turned to the corpse of the snake woman, with Aileen pushing the eyes closed first.

"So this is what my aunt Krystal looks like?" she asked.  
"Yeah…well, not quite, but pretty close." Marcus said somewhat meekly. The thoughts of that thing trying to comfort him still lingered in his head.

"She's beautiful…promise once this is all over you'll take me to see her."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here."

"Back to important things." Hephaestus said. "We must find the key."

Marcus sensed the area again, trying to find anything that would be abnormal in this area. He got a response…from within Medusa's body.

"That's just sick, man…" he grumbled.

"What?" Isaac asked.

"She ate the damn thing."

Aileen unsheathed one of her blades and didn't even give the boys time to look away before she sliced open the creature's stomach and reached inside. With moments, she had found the key and pulled it out. It was shaped oddly with the same infamous symbol that had been on the temple wall, and it was grotesquely smeared with blood and other such fluids.

"And you don't feel unnerved doing something like that?" Isaac asked.

"I gut animals all the time for my meals. Unlike them, she's scum. She's better off dead."

"Right…anyhow, do we go after the other one or just call it a night?"

"We'll leave that up to Marcus."

The three turned to him and awaited a response. It made him both honoured and troubled that these three people whom he'd only just met were putting their trust in him to tell them what to do next. What troubled him even more was the question. There was no way he could wait to save Coyote. Kursed could have killed her at any moment…or worse. Then again, he was very tired after having to fight this monster, and he was sure the others were tired as well.

It pained him to say it, but he made his choice and tried his best not to regret it.

"We call it a night. We need to be properly rested if we're going to have enough strength to take down the next Abomination."

"Right." Hephaestus agreed. "…one question, though: how in Grimm's name do we get out of here?"

_Try using your head, buddy._

_I don't really have too much to say at the moment except that I'm getting pretty close to finishing a chapter for the next Star Fox story I plan on doing. In order to keep with continuity, that story won't be published until some time after this one is done, though if you win the contest I cooked up at about Chapter 14, you'll get to see it early. Remember to message me and tell me your username on whatever site it is you publish your artwork on and I'll have a look. I know I'm sounding desperate here, but I really wasn't kidding when I said I have no drawing/painting skills._

_Oh, and if you're so inclined to ask, I'll be so inclined to answer: no. I'm not into vore if that's what Medusa's last words implied...not that there's anything wrong with it? _


	20. 19: Forgotten Children

CHAPTER NINETEEN

**Forgotten Children**

**The next morning…maybe. Cerinia's in perpetual twilight, remember?**

Marcus stirred awake in the treehouse after the four had gotten there what he thought was six hours ago. Aileen and Hephaestus were still sleeping, with the former's arm oddly draped across the latter's chest. Marcus smirked.

"That figures."

He stood up and took a good stretch, only then realizing the house was short one inhabitant. Turning his head towards the door, he saw that said inhabitant was sitting outside with his legs hanging over the side of the balcony and something in his mouth. Marcus stepped outside, prompting Isaac to look over his shoulder and smirk. It was then Marcus saw that the thing in his mouth was a cigarette of sorts.

"Mornin', sport."

"You finally got that smoke, eh?"

"Yep. Heph taught me how to make one."

Marcus sat down next to Isaac and took in a deep breath, leaning away from the smoke first.

"You want one? I can whip one up in about ten seconds now."

"No thanks. I'm not into that."

"You sure? You don't even drink?"

"I wouldn't be able to handle the hangover."

"Point taken."

The two looked out at the landscape, and at the sky in particular. It really made Marcus sad to know that the sun hadn't raised here in three years and that even some of the native children had forgotten what it looked like.

When he was a child, the sunrise was like a holy event that he never got to see because he was asleep when it happened, but he had seen the sun set with his own eyes. From what his mother and father told him, the sunrise was just as beautiful if not more so. Even if it wasn't, he knew it existed. These children didn't. Was that why he wanted to help them? Not exactly. Being controlled by a tyrannical monster was the primary reason.

Thus came another question: was it them he was fighting for, or was it himself? Was he being a hero, or just a greedy little child? And one more thing.

"Why are you helping us?" he said aloud.

"Huh?" Isaac asked.

"You weren't promised any reward, you've been put in danger way more than necessary, and you've been the ass end of quite a few jokes so far. But you still want to help us. Why?"

Isaac put out his smoke and looked at Marcus with a very stern look.

"What I'm about to tell you is something that happened to me a little while after Katt left the Hot Rodders. When she told me she wanted to join the Cornerian Army, I thought she was crazy. The reason I said that was because she was putting her life on the line for people who didn't really give a damn about her…well, except for Falco, of course. Then she said something to me that I've kept in my heart ever since then. I haven't seen Katt in God knows how long, but I've never forgotten what she said to me that day."

Now Marcus was beyond curious.

"She said 'Seeing smiles on people's faces when they know they're safe is the greatest reward anyone can give me'. I don't know why, but that really seemed to hit home for me. For whatever reason, I left the Hot Rodders a little while afterwards and sort of took on a Robin Hood persona. I helped a couple people get out of scrapes with some really shady-looking guys, and before I knew it, I'd saved a little kid from a burning building. The smile on her parents' faces made me realize exactly what someone who has any kind of star fighter is supposed to do in this day and age."

Isaac smiled up at the sky. It felt good to get this off of his chest.

"I want to help you because it's the right thing to do and it will make people happy, Mark. I'm still a vigilante at the core. I don't take orders from anybody when I'm in familiar space, which is another reason why I think you're what this whole galaxy needs."

"Huh?"  
"As the leader of Star Fox, everyone on Corneria sees you as a hero even if they don't realize it. That's what you were born to be, and if anyone tells you otherwise, they're either lying or in denial. The people of this planet need someone like you to help them get back what's rightfully theirs."

Marcus smirked, but this smirk quickly faded when another thought came into his mind.

"I've never really held myself in the high regard everyone holds me in. I've never seen myself as that much of a hero."

"Why not?"

"Simple: I'm a mercenary. I get paid to blow things up. We used to joke about that when Katt and Falco were still in the team, but now I know that it isn't funny...Goddammit…"

"What's wrong?"

"The longer I'm on this planet, the more I think that the so-called morals everyone's taught me are completely meaningless. You know the old McCloud family motto?"  
"'Never give up. Trust your instincts.'…that's it, right?"

"Go ahead and say I'm reading too deep into it, but that motto is bullshit. You know what trusts its instincts? A monster that thinks everything around it is weaker than it is and is therefore food. If I follow my instincts and not my morals, I'm no better than Kursed."

He had been thinking of what Coyote had turned into right in front of him as he said that. To think that that was how someone would act when their animal instincts were released was simply unheard of back on his home planet. He had seen it with his one eyes…how easy it was for someone to be consumed by rage.

The two were unaware that Aileen was listening in from the doorway. She had been listening intently and only now showed herself, though spoke like she had heard nothing.

"We should probably get going. Aphrodite's scouts are usually doing patrols in a few hours."

Marcus nodded, and both he and Isaac stood.

"Right. Where to next?"

"The mine…I just have to warn you now that what you're going to see may be a little more than you can bear."

**One grimtiger ride later…**

Telia went running off again into the forest after Aileen had given her enough food, and thus left the group standing in front of yet another empty tunnel, though this one looked like it had been inhabited by actual civilized beings…once upon a time, anyway.

"Our people used to mine for precious gems here." Hephaestus said. "It was rich with minerals back in those days. The workers came back with basket-loads of them."

"What did you do with them?" asked Marcus.

"Most of them were used as mating offerings."

"You mean wedding rings?"

"In a way, yes."

Marcus bit his lip and looked over at Hephaestus as the group began their descent into the mine.

"What is love like on Cerinia?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean do you just choose a mate for the sake of choosing one. Is there any consensual love between the two people?"

"Yes, of course. We do not choose mates sporadically. Meeting your mate is an act of destiny. It cannot be changed in any way, but then again, why should it?"

While one of Coyote's favourite Earth shows from the past fifty years had been _Twin Peaks, _one of Marcus' favourites had been _Penn and Teller: Bullshit!_...why is this important? Because Marcus was a large skeptic about everything these people were talking about. He hadn't believed for a second that Kursed was in fact a soul born without a body and was instead forced to leech off of another, thus technically making him his aunt, not his surrogate mother. He hadn't believed for even a moment that his maternal grandmother was a being from another dimension. Like any skeptic, he would only be convinced if it came straight from the horse's mouth, and now he had yet another thing not to believe in.

Wasn't fate what you made it out to be? Couldn't the future be changed if you wanted to change it? Why was Marcus thinking so philosophically about everything? Why was he looking at everything so negatively?

"I wanna go home…" he mumbled.

"What?" said Aileen.

"Nothing."

It was true, though. Whatever it was in his head that made him want to just forget this whole fiasco and go home had overpowered him for just a moment. But no. He couldn't go home. He knew that, so why did he keep thinking otherwise?

"I know what this is…being on this planet for this long…I've only been here for one night and I'm already losing my fuckin' mind!"

Marcus shook the thoughts out of his head when the group stopped in front of a very deep shaft, though with a rope that hung down into it. Marcus grasped the rope and tugged. It held firm.

"I'll go first. I can wall-jump back up if it breaks." he said.

Really he just needed something physically demanding to do to put his mind at peace. He planted his feet against the other wall and steadily edged himself downward through the dark shaft. For a moment, it became dark enough that he couldn't see anything, and he even thought for a moment that his hands had slipped. Thankfully, he clung on and continued to inch himself down until he felt solid ground under his feet.

"It's okay!" he called up the shaft. "Come down one at a time!"

The group steadily followed him down the shaft, and once all four of them had their feet settled on the ground, they continued down the dark pathway, using the glow of Marcus' staff to light the way. There no sound side from their own footsteps, and even then they were quiet enough that you could just barely hear them. Upon another sound ringing out, the group readied their weapons, increasing their grip when something came stumbling towards them in the darkness.

Then the moment of clarity came over them as the figure stepped into the light: it was a little Cerinian boy, and he looked like he'd been through Hell. There were scars all over his body, his fur was stained in blood, and he was wheezing like someone had filled his lungs with smoke. He took a few more steps forward, looked up at Marcus, and then collapsed. Marcus rushed forward and caught the boy, cradling him in his arms and keeping his head raised. The boy wheezed for a few more seconds before looking up at him.

"Please…my friends…help them…" he coughed.

"Save your strength." Marcus said softly. "Everything's going to be okay."

"No…my friends are still down there…they're torturing them…"

"Who?"

"Aphrodite's servants…please help them…they want to…"

The boy coughed again. Marcus clenched his teeth.

"We need to get this kid back to Persephone." he said.

"It's too risky. The scouts are probably already out combing the jungle for us." Isaac replied.

Aileen stepped forward and gently heaved the boy onto her back.

"I'll do it. They don't have a chance of catching me."

The boy held on tight as Aileen vaulted her way back up the mine shaft, leaving the boys to stand alone in the darkness.

"My sister's servants…what would they be doing down here?" asked Hephaestus. "And torturing them…no…it can't be…"

Hephaestus ran on ahead, forcing Marcus and Isaac to sprint just to keep up. Upon reaching a cliff side with another rope leading down a slope, they peaked over the rock and saw the mine's primitive machinery were still functioning. What horrified them was how it was running: all around the room, there were children pushing against mine carts and turning gears with their bare hands. All of them were covered with dirt and ash, all of them sweating and bleeding, and many of them were crying.

"What the fuck…" Isaac said in shock. "What is this?!"

A few of the children had accidentally tipped over a mine cart and sent several of the gemstones it was carrying spilling out all over the place. Before they knew it, several of the women guarding them were yelling at them at the top of their lungs before shoving them on the ground.

"Unbelievable…I know just what is happening here." Hephaestus growled. "They're forcing the children to mine for their own ornaments. They're working them to the bone and then sacrificing them when they've become useless."

"Shit. We need to get down there somehow without being seen and…Mark?"

Marcus wasn't paying any attention to what the two were saying. He looked at the scene with anger welling up more and more within him.

"Making their own children work like slaves…how many kids are in here? You bitches…scumbag motherfucker!"

Before one of the women had time to lash the cat o' nine tails in her hand across one of the poor children's backs, Marcus seized Isaac's gun and ran down the slope. His loud and slamming footsteps echoed throughout the room, as did the loud ringing of bullets as he fired off Isaac's gun at every single one of the guards. Each of them cried out in terror and dove down to the ground to avoid being shot. Marcus meanwhile was screaming in rage.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKERS! YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST WORK YOUR CHILDREN TO DEATH AND SACRIFICE THEM TO A MONSTER?! FUCK YOU! I'LL PUMP YOU ALL FULL OF LEAD!"

"Dammit, Marcus, you of all people!" Isaac grumbled as he and Hephaestus ran down the slope to assist.

He was furious. To think they even had a thought of enslaving their children. Then again, their parents were probably locked up somewhere where they couldn't find them. No way were these women old enough to want bear children, let alone have the responsibility to take care of them. The fact that they had been easily manipulated into doing this served to make Marcus even angrier.

After several moments of bullet fire, the gun made a hollow clicking sound. Marcus scowled and threw it down on the ground before drawing his staff.

"OH, YEAH, SURE! YOU GOT BIG GIRL PANTS ON! YOU'RE GONNA STAND UP TO THE BIG MEANIE WHO THINKS ABUSING KIDS IS WRONG! COME GET SOME! I'LL MAKE YOU FUCKERS PAY FOR THIS!"

The last time Marcus had been this angry was when he thought his parents had died at the hands of the Venomians. These children didn't even know who he was, and yet he was fighting like a complete lunatic. Maybe it was just an impulse that everyone got: war is something a lot of people get upset over, but if even a single child is caught up in the mess, someone is bound to get angry.

Once the bullets had stopped, the guards stood and began charging headlong at Marcus. One of the women ran at Marcus with her spear raised, only for her to meet with his staff smashing into the side of her head. Another came at him from behind and was sent sprawling backwards once Marcus had kicked her in the stomach. Once Isaac and Hephaestus had joined the fray, the situation got even more manic with the boys wrestling the guards to the ground and even throwing them away.

Not only were the guards having a hard time defending themselves, they thought they were insane with the former prince standing in front of them. They had seen him be turned to stone with their own eyes, but here he was standing looking alive and well like nothing had happened. And as for the other two men…

"Wait…aren't you the boy that we picked up at the side of the river?" one of the women asked. "I thought we had you executed!"

Someone was going to be executed here, but it certainly wasn't going to be Marcus. Before long, the guards found themselves overpowered and running away as fast as they could.

"YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT! RUN, BITCH! RUN!" Marcus hollered after them.

"Jesus Christ, dude, calm down!" Isaac said sternly.

Marcus stood there breathing in and out through his nose like a bull before he finally calmed himself down. Now he could see what Coyote had suffered through when she had been possessed by her instincts. In that moment, he felt just like Coyote had after her own attacks. He had been consumed by rage for only a few moments, but it was going to haunt him for the rest of his life.

The children were utterly confused as to what was going on (though they were admittedly relieved that the women had all run away and they could stop working themselves to death), but once they saw Hephaestus, they let out a mass cheer.

"Quickly, children!" Hephaestus called. "Escape through the back way and head towards the Sanctuary! We'll meet you there!"

The children climbed down from wherever they were and began running through a back tunnel as quickly as they could go. Once they were all out, Aileen suddenly appeared behind them.

"I got the boy to Persephone safely…whoa. What happened here?"

"Marcus happened." Isaac replied. "He took one look at what happened to those kids and he went apeshit!"

Marcus had dropped out of the raging euphoric state he had been in and fell into a state of intense guilt. Sure, they had deserved it. Physically abusing children wasn't something that went unpunished, but he had gone full-on murder crazy and was sure he came very close to killing a few of these people. He sighed.

"I'm fine." he said. "It's just…well, you know."

"You don't look fine." Hephaestus remarked.

"I said I'm fine, so that's that! Let's just find the fuckin' key and get out of here!"

Marcus had chosen to angrily slam the tip of his staff against the ground which inadvertently activated the Fire Blaster, sending a single fireball flying through the air and hitting a beam a good distance away from them. This beam was what held up what seemed to be a massive gate, and once the fireball hit it, it crumpled away and dropped the gate to the ground. The group turned and saw something that nearly made all of them wish they hadn't set foot outside of the treehouse.

The creature that thundered out of the gate stood at well over thirty feet tall and looked strikingly similar to…uhh…I don't know, Palkia from _Pokémon Pearl _or some shit. I can't come up with every monster's appearance out of the blue, can I?

In any case, the moment the creature saw the group, it let out a massive roar.

"Ares." Hephaestus growled.

"…yep." Marcus sighed. "Guess that was my fault…again."

Well, ain't that a load a' shit.

It only took Marcus one second to notice the strange glint coming from Ares' left eye. The second he saw it, he groaned.

"Oh, for the love of God, why does every single thing we need to do this have to be guarded by some giant monster?! Why not just have a cute little girl who hands it to you once you find her, and why did I just make myself sound like a pedophile?!"

Whatever the case, the four rolled out of the way as Ares slammed its massive foot down in an attempt to crush them underneath it. The ground had shaken enough to knock the group of their feet, leaving Ares to strike its fist down at Aileen. No sooner had it motioned to do this did Hephaestus interfere. He threw himself under the giant stone fist and held it away from her to the best of his ability, and even with his immense strength, he showed obvious signs of strain.

"Go! Now!" he growled.

Aileen didn't waste getting out of the way. Upon seeing this, Marcus received another stimulating bit of nostalgia. He remembered that he had done the same thing for Coyote at Krazoa Palace three years ago, except it was just a falling statue, not a thirty-foot tall obelisk that was actually trying to kill them. His thoughts were only on her. Even if in this dire moment of trying to stay alive, all he could think about was her. Besides, another big difference between what Marcus had done three years ago and what Hephaestus was doing now was that Marcus hadn't steadily lost his strength to the point where it looked like he was a goner.

With that in mind, Marcus rushed in and slammed his staff into the ground, sending a shockwave throughout the room and successfully managing to imbalance Ares. Hephaestus jumped out of the way the second he was able to do so.

"Many thanks." he panted.

"No problem. So how do we kill this thing?"

"We don't."

"…huh?"

"Ares was created as an obelisk to protect miners from cave-ins, and it was unfortunately made without any sort of flaw."

"So there's only one thing for it, then."

"I'm afraid so."

Marcus turned to Isaac and Aileen and blurted out his command.

"LET'S HIGH-TAIL IT OUTTA HERE!"

Going back the way they came in was impossible, so they immediately darted for the back entrance, only to have it cave-in when Ares slammed its fist into the wall.

"Great! Now what?!" Isaac hollered.

"There's still one more way out!" Aileen shouted in return. "If we get on one of the mine carts, we can escape through the tunnels!"

"Then let's hurry! That guy's packing!"

The four ran up the ramp that the children had come down from and onto the tracks, jumping in the nearest mine cart and activating it. It rolled quickly along the tracks, quickly enough that it slipped by before Ares could swing its colossal arm at them. The cart slipped into the tunnel, and only then did the adrenaline rush cease enough for someone to question the stupidity of the situation.

"Great, except we forgot the fuckin' key, genius!" Marcus shouted.

"You're making it sound like you WANT to get crushed!" Aileen retaliated.

"Uhh, guys?" Isaac said.

He pointed back the way they came, and the others turned just in time to see Ares crash through the wall and begin chasing after them.

"Holy schnikes…" Marcus groaned.

"Now what?!" Isaac cried. "The cart's going too slow!"

Hephaestus looked upward and saw that the cart was kept on the tracks by a cable running through the tunnel. He thought himself completely insane for even thinking of this next idea, but did he really have a choice in the matter? He gripped his blade and started chopping away at the wire cable as quickly as he could.

"Whoa, whoa, are you trying to kill us here, man?!" Isaac stuttered. "Sit your ass down and think of something else!"

"There's no time, you buffoon! Ares is gaining ground on us!"  
"…I don't believe I've ever been spoken to like that before."

Hephaestus continued hacking away, steadily beginning to split the cable to the point where only a few metal strands clung on.

"In your defense, Mister Munroe, this is probably the most insane and even idiotic things I've ever done. Therefore, I suggest that we all hold on tightly…VERY tightly!"

He made one more slash and the cable broke, releasing the cart from its bonds and sending it shooting down a ramp of tracks. Every one of its inhabitants let out loud yelps as the air rushed past the fur and they clung on to the cart to the point where their knuckles turned white. Regardless of its targets' increased speed, Ares continued chasing them letting out loud roars and clawing at the tracks whenever it had the oppourtunity.

"Oh, shit, SHARP TURN!" Marcus called out. "EVERYONE LEAN TO THE RIGHT!"

The cart zipped around the corner and would have tumbled off the tracks had it not been for its riders shifting all of their weight away from the pitfall and rebalancing it. Ares crashed its way around the corner, giving Marcus enough time to see an energy buildup in its mouth.

"Get down!' he yelled, shoving everyone's heads downward before ducking down himself.

A massive beam of plasma shot over the cart and blasted into the tracks in front of them. Focusing to the best of his ability, Marcus released a telekinetic burst, popping the cart up into the air for a few moments and allowing it to safely cross the pitfall. Just as well, because underneath the tracks was a very deep trench that Ares paid no attention to until it found itself tumbling down into it.

"That was a tad anticlimactic." Hephaestus commented.

"Fine by me." said Isaac. "So long as we don't have a giant monster chasing us any HOLY SHIT!"

It didn't seem possible, but Ares had suddenly burst through the part of the track in front of them and let out an ear-splitting roar. Before it could attempt to inflict any damage on the cart, Marcus hatched an idea and put it into effect the second he thought of it. He jumped high into the air, flipping over Ares' head and drawing its attention away from the cart. He landed perfectly on the other side of the tracks and threw his staff at the tunnel wall. It bounced off at a perfect angle, slammed into the key in Ares' eye socket and dislodged it. The key landed perfectly in his hand, and he stretched out his other one to telekinetically pull his staff into it.

"HEPHAESTUS! NOW!"

Hephaestus tossed his giant sword up in the air where it spun several times before he suddenly jumped up as high as he could and slammed it down hard on Ares' neck. The great creature collapsed onto the tracks as its head fell into oblivion, leaving its targets with a well-deserved moment's peace.

"And here I thought I was agile." Aileen chuckled. "Good work, cousin."

"Thanks."

Marcus looked intently at the key and nodded.

"Let's head for the Sanctuary and make sure the children made it there alright. We'll head for wherever Aphrodite is hiding after a good sleep."

**Several hours later…**

Aileen was never one to shirk her sleep, but having a bad dream was one thing to keep her awake all night. Her eyes opened once her nightmare had concluded.

"She was right in front of me…I had her in my hands…" she thought to herself.

Her dream had been her finally having her revenge on Aphrodite, choking the life out of the screaming monster that had murdered her father. She knew that was what she wanted, but the way she had done it made it seem like she was there for the bloodshed, not to avenge her father. She had seemed like a killer, but then again, was that all she was? She wasn't worth anything to anyone else on this planet. She had no part in Kursed's evil plan, so why did she even bother getting involved?

She sat up. The dark treehouse didn't serve to comfort her in this moment of anger, as did the fact that there was no one else with her. As far as she knew, Marcus and the others were still checking on the children. She didn't say it, but she had seen Marcus go berserk. He had let his anger get the best of him after he saw just what the natives had been doing to the children. She identified with it. Right now, she felt the exact same way.

Her thoughts reverted to that time three years ago. She remembered running through the forest after witnessing her father's murder at Aphrodite's hand. She remembered thinking…no, KNOWING that her world would never be the same again. Why had she done this? Was she really that angry that Hephaestus had been declared the leader of their tribe instead of her, or was she just pure evil?

"Why am I still alive? I can't move on from anything…I'm just fighting life until the end of my days."

At that point, she didn't even care. She stood up and looked to her side. Maybe she was just hallucinating, but she saw the self-declared Queen of Cerinia standing there and smiling maliciously at her.

"You're a fool, Aileen. Look at you." she said. "You have no family, you have no pride. All you have are those three idiots that follow you."

"Shut up…"

"You dragged them into your fight because you're scared to face me alone? Is that it, or do you just like it when men do the dirty work for you?"

"SHUT UP!"

Aileen unsheathed one of her blades and swung it with all her might at Aphrodite's neck, only to confirm what she thought before: Aphrodite wasn't there. The sword buried its tip in the side of the house, proving that it had just been a manifestation of her inner anger.

"She murdered my father right in front of me…I will never forgive her."

She dislodged the blade from the wall and put it away. She had the keys now. She could finally have her revenge, but the question was if it was going to be worth it or not. Her father wasn't coming back regardless of whether she killed Aphrodite or she let her live, so why even bother? What did Aphrodite have that Aileen could ever possibly want? Not her position of power, certainly. That rightfully belonged to Hephaestus…right? After all, wasn't it her father than had turned the position down? Maybe she WAS supposed to be the leader.

"Father…" she said quietly.

She said it again, this time clearly showing signs of sorrow before tears steadily began to fall from her eyes and she began to sob. She missed him. She needed his guidance, and he wasn't there for her.

She quickly wiped her tears away when she heard someone pulling themselves up onto the platform. She hid herself well into the shadows and waited, though breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was just Marcus returning from the Sanctuary. Marcus let out a sigh and sat down facing towards the jungle, not bothering to look inside the treehouse and see if anyone was there. Right away, Aileen could tell Marcus was in low spirits, so she quietly stepped out and sat next to him.

"Where are the others?"

"They're still at the Sanctuary. Heph wanted to comfort the kids a little longer, and Isaac…who knows what he's doing."

"So why are you back so early?"

"…I wanted to be alone to think."

He slumped over.

"I'm tired…I'm hungry…I just wanna go home, but I can't. I can't leave until I save Coyote, but the longer I'm on this planet, the more negatively I begin to think about…well, everything!"

"What do you mean?"

"Seeing these children suffering like this and flipping out like that has made me realize how cruel and savage people like me can really be. I don't know if I'm either going primal or just going crazy."

Aileen sighed.

"I don't blame you, Marcus. You see, our tribe has been learning about your planet since before I was born, and there's many legends about it, including one about why Corneria and Cerinia are so far apart."

Marcus' grief was replaced with curiosity, and he thus sat and listened intently.

"Before either of our races were born, Corneria and Cerinia were brother and sister. For some reason that even they didn't know, they could never stop fighting with one another. One of them tried to make peace and begged the other to stop instigating these fights, but the sibling never listened. They constantly hurt one another so badly that their cries of pain could be heard from light-years away. Eventually, the creator of the cosmos finally had enough of their bickering and separated them, placing Corneria in one region of space and placing Cerinia in another region very far away, and thus forbade them from ever interacting with one another ever again. After several centuries of deep thought, the siblings realized how foolish they had been and began trying to make their way back to one another to try and make amends."

The story was wondrous and hit Marcus very deep in the heart. The entire reason for having part of his family so far away from him was because of sibling rivalry.

"But there was one thing that was left open to interpretation for those of us who heard the story." Aileen continued, looking Marcus deep in the eyes. "They didn't say which one was which. They didn't say which instigated the fights or which tried to make peace. For the longest time, I thought it might have your planet that started the fights and I was afraid of ever meeting you or Krystal or anyone from there. When Aphrodite came to power, though, and had her own brother turned to stone, I began thinking differently."

"You don't need to think differently."

"What do you mean?"

"Corneria thrives on war. There's been more than five wars in the past half-century, all of them with Corneria as one of the opponents. If that's not enough, take a good look at my team. Yeah, we're hailed as heroes back home, but the fact is that we're getting paid to blow things up and kill people."

Marcus sighed again and closed his eyes in despair.

"I'm not a hero, Aileen. I never have been. When I save someone's life, usually it's at the cost of someone else's. People die all the time because of my team…because of me."

Aileen gently touched Marcus' cheek and averted his gaze to connect with hers.

"Yes, but you never stabbed your friends or family in the back, did you?" she said sternly. "The people you kill are those that the galaxy could do with either imprisoned or without. It might take some more convincing than I can give you, but you are a hero, Marcus."

Then in a sudden shifting of moods, she smiled the most charming smile he had ever seen.

"Especially to me."

Isaac's words of how someone's smile made everything worth it resonated in Marcus' head. He felt his chest warm up until he began to smile as well.

"Thank you, Aileen…I'm glad I met you. I probably wouldn't have the strength to go on if you hadn't shown me what was at stake. I'm going to fight alongside you until you get what you deserve."

"Yes. But until then, let's get some sleep."

The two cousins found themselves embracing one another before lying down inside the treehouse with arm's reach of one another. Aileen's sorrow had lifted. She had found new life within Marcus. He gave her the strength to keep trying until she had no energy left. He was family, and she was glad he transcended the cosmos just to help her.

And as for Marcus, his spirits were lifted. They wouldn't be as high as they would be if he saved Coyote, but he was at the very least happy again for only these moments so he could put his mind at peace.

_A little update for the cover art contest thing. The contest is over once the next chapter is uploaded, which will probably be sometime next month (that's enough time, right?). I currently have one submission that kicks ass, but I'm willing to look into any others should they pop up. Remember, PM me as soon as you finish it telling me your username on whatever art website you submit it to, and I'll have a look. If you win, you get a preview chapter from the Star Fox: Next Gen prequel story I'm working on. If you submit a cover, you get free promotion on my profile. That's always cool, right?_

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare- _"Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "_Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

_Coyote versus the shadows- _"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson

_The star Lylat- _Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime

_Marcus and Fox/Marcus and Chase- "_Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

_Fox versus Kursed- _"Du Hast" by Rammstein

_Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- _Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)

_The Nightstriker- _"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath

_The death of Commander Dane- _"Mad World" by Gary Jules

_The prisoners of Kew- _Byelomorye Dam from Goldeneye 64

_Escape from Sargasso- _"Hard to See" by Five Finger Death Punch

_Marcus and Wolf versus Master Hand and Crazy Hand- _Final Destination from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

_To Cerinia- "_Laser Cannon Deth Sentence" by Dethklok

_Aileen- _"Working Class Hero" by Green Day (Originally by John Lennon)

_The slaves- _"Forgotten Children" by Tokio Hotel

_Aileen's sorrow- _"Narcissistic Cannibal" by EarlyRise (Originally by Korn and Skrillex)

_Marcus and Aileen- _"Name" by the Goo Goo Dolls


	21. 20: Vengeance

CHAPTER TWENTY

**Vengeance**

"Mark, get up!" Isaac said urgently.

"Wha…cut me a break, will ya?" Marcus replied groggily. "I'm trying to sleep here."

"I think this is more important that your beauty sleep, pal!"

"Goddammit…fine, what is it?"  
"It's Aileen! She's gone!"

"Gone?! What do you mean 'gone'?!"  
"I mean she took the keys and made a break for it!"

Marcus shot up from where he was lying and looked all about. Isaac was telling the truth. Aileen was nowhere in sight.

"That damn fool. What's she thinking going up against Aphrodite on her own?" he thought almost furiously.

He gripped his staff and unsheathed it.

"Come on, boys. We've gotta catch up to her before she does something stupid."

It's a little too late for that, don't you think?

The three dropped down to the ground only for Telia to run up to them whining rather loudly. For some odd reason, Marcus could understand her gestures. He knew exactly where Aileen had gone, and Telia telling him about it confirmed it further.  
"Okay. Lead the way, girl!"

**Elsewhere…**

"What do you mean Medusa's dead?!" Aphrodite growled.

"We went to the labyrinth. Someone punctured her brain and cut her stomach open." a guard said nervously.

"That's another thing: what do you mean 'someone'? You know damn well who it is!"

Aphrodite leaned back in her throne and propped her cheek on her fist, her other clenched on a staff. This staff was the only way that anyone would be capable of reaching the mountain where the Great Mother was dwelling. She couldn't let the traitor get it.

"Aileen…where are you? Why don't you just die and put yourself out of everyone's misery?" she muttered.

All at once, several of the guards within the room gasped. Aphrodite stood in a confused motion when she suddenly found someone hanging upside-down in front of her.

"By everyone's misery, I think you just mean yours." snarled Aileen.

Aphrodite nearly screamed, though substituted this with falling back into her throne with a frightened expression. Aileen grunted.

"Oh, so you're fine with killing my father but as soon as I show off some athletics, you become a scared little girl."

She landed feet first on the ground and faced her nemesis with a hand on one of her blades.

"What's wrong, 'dear ruler'?" she mocked. "Did you miss me?"

Aphrodite knew that Aileen had to still be alive, but she didn't think for a second that she would be showing up this early nor did she think she would just barge right in without anyone knowing.

"How did YOU kill Medusa and Ares?!" she spat.

"I had a little help…from your brother."

"Don't be foolish. My brother is dead."

"Is he?"

Aphrodite scowled in disgust and made a motion with her hand. She'd had enough of this lowlife talking trash to her.

"Guards. Get rid of her."

"Oh, no. Not in a million years." Aileen seethed. "I came all this way, I've suffered through three years of pain, and now it's time for me to take you down or die trying. Either way, I'll be happy."

"You value honour more than your own life?"

"No. I value the freedom of our people…the people whose lives you've bastardized."

Aphrodite stood from her throne and smirked.

"Oh, and you think you could do any better, you traitor?"  
"I'M the traitor?! You had your own brother turned to stone, you made innocent children work in a mine, you sacrificed innocent lives, and you killed my father, the rightful heir to your throne, right in front of me! You did all that and you think I'M a traitor?! FUCK YOU!"

Aphrodite scowled.

"You dare speak to me that way? I am the mortal representative of the Great Mother! I am your empress!"

"You will never be a leader to me or anyone. You're just a bloodthirsty tyrant turned from a whiny little brat."

Aileen unsheathed her two blades and sank into a fighting stance.

"I've had enough waiting. It's time. You and I are having it out right now. Let's just go at it and see who wins."

Aphrodite gritted her teeth and motioned for the guards to stand back. She needed to put this mongrel in her place as soon as possible. The sooner a problem was eliminated, the sooner she could get back to searching for the Miracle. She drew a blade from behind her throne and pointed it at Aileen.

"I suppose it was inevitable…very well. Draw!"

* * *

From the outside of the massive temple, the guards heard of the calamity going on inside. While the majority of them rushed inside to get a better look, two of them were ordered to stay behind and continue to guard the entrance. Neither one was happy about it. In fact, neither one was happy about being here at all.

The older guard sighed out of pure boredom, but her ears pricked up when she heard her younger counterpart making a somewhat irritating noise over by her post.

"Will you stop that, Celes?" she called.

Celes didn't stop making the noise. In an annoyed fashion, the older guard turned toward her, only to be surprised when she saw that Celes was sitting down with her face buried in her hands. More importantly, she was crying.

"What's the matter?" the older guard asked.

Celes sniffled and looked up.  
"I miss him…" she whimpered.

"You miss who?"

"Judah…my little brother. H-how could we have sent them to work in the mine?! What kind of monsters are we, Lora?"

Lora looked utterly confused.

"You know why we would do this. It is the will of our goddess. Their hard work will pay off when the Miracle's glory descends upon us."

"We've been waiting for three years and he still hasn't come! What makes you think he will now?!"

"Celes, don't be blasphemous!"

Celes got to her feet and snapped her spear in half over her knee.

"No! You know what? I'm done! The Great Mother is a damn liar and I don't care if she gives us this 'glory' or not! Aphrodite is a terrible leader and you're an idiot if you don't agree with me!"

Lora was absolutely shocked by what her young friend was saying and was quick to stand in her way when she tried to walk away.

"If you leave, the others guard will hunt you down like a wild animal! Don't throw your life away

"We threw our lives away when we pledged our allegiance to that spoiled rotten brat! I hope the abandoner kills her! I hope she burns in Hell for all eternity!"

Then it happened: Celes said the words that stirred up grief in Lora's heart.

"You're just as bad as she is! How could you send your only son to work in the mine?!"

Before she knew it, Lora's eyes were seeping tears as well. It hurt every time she thought of her son. How she longed to see his precious face again…how she longed to tell him she was sorry.

"Good God…you're right…what kind of mother am I?"

"You'll be a good one if you help us." said a voice from behind her.

The two yelped in fright and spun around to find Marcus, Isaac, and Hephaestus standing in front of them. The two trembled especially at the sight of the third man.

"Prince Hephaestus?!" Lora stammered. "But…we thought you were dead!"

"That doesn't matter now." Hephaestus said. "What does matter is that you are going to help us now."

"…why should we?"

"'Cause we'll blast you full of holes if you don't!" Isaac threatened.

The two women shuddered and stepped back. Marcus rolled his eyes and stepped toward them,

"What my 'kind and gentle' comrade means is we know the pain the two of you are suffering through, and helping us will be the best way to put that pain to an end. Aphrodite needs to be put in her place."

"Wait…that staff." Celes said, gazing at Marcus' sheathed weapon.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"You are…you are the Miracle!"

Marcus grumbled under his breath and looked sternly at them.

"Perhaps yes, but there's no time for dwelling on that. Are you going to help us or not?"

The two women considering going into deep thought about it, but reconsidered this when they realized what they would get back if Aphrodite were dethroned. They nodded.

"I don't think we're going to be able to help you too much, but we'll certainly do our best." said Celes.

"Your best is all we need." Hephaestus replied with a warm smile.

* * *

For several minutes, the noises echoing throughout the castle had been only the clashing of blades and the loud grunts of Aileen and Aphrodite. While Aileen had considered the possibility that her nemesis would have no fighting experience whatsoever, she was thankful that she had been prepared for the alternative since Aphrodite surprisingly packed quite a punch.

"You feel like giving up yet?" Aphrodite mocked as she made a powerful uppercut that Aileen strafed around.

"I'll give up when I'm trapped between a rock and a hard place!"

"And who's to say you aren't already?"

Aphrodite slashed at Aileen's neck, only for the latter to perform a ninja-like front flip and kick the former square in the back once she had landed.

"That."

"You wretched little…I'll kill you with my bare hands!"

"Funny. You came across as a twig compared to your servants over there. Makes me wonder why they haven't snapped you in half for making their younger siblings work in a fucking mine!"

Aphrodite performed several strong swipes with her blade, all of which Aileen blocked, though the final one knocked her off-balance for a brief moment. This gave her barely enough time to bring her other blade up and block, locking the two blades together and leaving their faces inches apart as they tried their best to repel one another.

"You know, I never really liked you, anyway." Aphrodite growled. "Always just going around like a prissy little child and going about life like nothing hard would ever come your way."  
"Like you know what hard living is!" Aileen shot back. "Try living in a treehouse with dozens of people hunting you down for three years, you coward!"

"A coward, am I? What's cowardly about taking command when there was no else to turn to?"  
"SHUT UP!"

Aileen angrily shoved Aphrodite away, only for the latter's blade to slash across her forearm very near to her wrist. She let out a cry of pain and dropped her left blade as a result, thought blocked out the pain to the best of her ability and glared.

"Good strike. How about this one?!"

Aileen stabbed fast enough that Aphrodite had barely enough time to move away from it. Upon Aphrodite slashing again, Aileen jumped onto her shoulders and vaulted herself high into the air before plummeting at her rival with a downward strike. Sadly, she missed and left herself wide open for a very brutal attack.

"SEIZE HER!" Aphrodite yelled after violently kicking Aileen in the stomach and sending her sprawling backwards.

The guards rushed in and grabbed Aileen's arms, throwing her remaining blade a good distance away. She thrashed about with all her might to try and get loose, succeeding for a brief moment. Aileen had her offense crippled without her blades, but she was far from defenseless when it came to hand-to-hand combat.

A quick punch got one guard off her back, as did a roundhouse kick to another. Then someone came out with a chain and got it tangled in the poor girl's legs, thus pinning her to the ground until the guards heaved her off her feet and kept her standing up. Aphrodite began advancing on her menacingly and seized her throat with one hand, steadily beginning to cut off her airway.

"Let me assure you, dear Aileen." she whispered. "I am going to send you to a deep dark place, and I am going to have fun doing it."

"Didn't expect…any less from you…bitch." Aileen rasped. "Your father would…be ashamed of you…"

The mere mention of her father pinged in Aphrodite's brain and struck her last nerve. She let out a violent roar and was about to plunge her blade straight into Aileen's heart when…

"That's enough!"

Marcus ran into the room with one of the guards strung under Marcus' arm, the spear end of his staff jutting against her throat.

"Let her go now!" Marcus hollered.

Aphrodite lowered her blade and scoffed.

"Well, what do you know? The boy from the river."

She turned towards Marcus and crossed her arms.

"And what if we don't?"

"I'll kill your servant here."

The girl Marcus had in a near-chokehold whimpered, and this only served to make Marcus' thoughts on the matter even more aggravating.

"What am I doing?" he thought to himself. "I'm holding a teenage girl hostage…I was right. I'm going completely insane."

Regardless of whether he was going insane or not, he didn't let her go. Aphrodite looked at him for a few seconds longer and began…laughing?

"That seems a little extreme for someone like you." she said before turning away. "Go ahead. She's not my problem."

"It'll be easy!" Marcus growled over the sobbing of the servant. "I can break her neck like it's a toothpick!"

Aphrodite turned her head with one sadistic smirk and said, "Show me." The anger sparked in Marcus was unparalleled, but then he realized it. He couldn't do it. The woman he was threatening to kill had done nothing wrong to him and was terrified beyond belief.

"No…I refuse to become like Kursed." he whispered.

Before anyone had time to ask what he had said, he hung his head in shame and released the girl from his grasp. Aphrodite's smirk grew even more obnoxious.

"I thought you wouldn't be able to do it. You Cornerians are completely spineless."  
"Marcus, why the hell did you follow me?!" Aileen spat. "I could have handled this just fine on my own!"

Aphrodite froze in place when she heard the name.  
"…your name is Marcus?" she asked.

"Yes." Marcus replied, looking up at her very sternly.

The hostile natives' jaws dropped, as well as their weapons. In less than a second, they had all fallen to their knees and were bowing before him.

"Great Miracle, please forgive us!" Aphrodite cried.

"Please forgive us!" all the guards echoed.

Marcus rolled his eyes  
"Not this bullshit again…"

"If only we had known it was you, we would have taken you in like one of our own." Aphrodite said, getting to her feet. "Please stay with us for this evening. We will prepare you for your ceremony tomorrow."

Aphrodite gently took Marcus' hand and stroked it against her cheek.  
"Hey, what are you doing?!"

"You're so warm…it's fortunate that you and I have met so soon. I was beginning to think I would be an old maid before you came."

She led Marcus' hand down her face to her neck and eventually to her chest. One felt heartbeat forced him to reel backward. Aphrodite giggled.

"Are you nervous? There's no need for that."

"Sorry, lady, but I'm in a previous engagement so to speak."

"Oh, yes, of course. The Great Mother is eagerly awaiting you to return to her."

He wasn't sure why, but every second someone talked about Kursed, he became angrier. Then he turned his head to the side and saw the guards strapping Aileen to a pole.

"What are you doing with her?" he asked.

"The abandoner?" Aphrodite asked. "She will be executed. We cannot afford to have her ruin this most sacred event. Hopefully she will supply herself as a perfect meal to the Great Mother's proxy."

"Her…proxy?"

"Yes. A lovely white-furred being who feel from the sky just as you did."

"WHAT?!"

He knew what a proxy was from things like the Slender Man myth, but if Coyote had become like that…then it was undeniable. She was a full-on monster now. But no! He couldn't give up! He had to save her!

"Is something wrong?" Aphrodite asked.

Marcus looked at her furiously. She heard the anger in his voice and she was still asking him is something was wrong?

"Yes. You need to let Aileen go right now and tell me how to get to wherever Kursed is."

All of the women shuddered.

"She is the Great Mother. Her name is not to be spoken." Aphrodite replied.

"And before long she'll be dead."

"Precisely. That is why we must take you to our place of offering as quickly as we can."

"No, because I'm going to kill her."

The women all stood aghast, and Marcus could easily tell why, though he also could tell that they were going to be fairly upset that he had said this.

"W-what?!" Aphrodite stammered. "But…she is your mother!"

"No, she isn't. Krystal is my mother."

"That doesn't matter! You must be sent back to her by way of sacrifice! She and her proxy…"

The word "proxy" being used to identify Coyote hit Marcus' last nerve and he had the Fire Blaster end of his staff pointing right at Aphrodite's head.

"Enough of this proxy and Great Mother stuff, okay?!" he growled, the pent-up anger steadily escalating his voice until he was screaming at the top of his lungs. "That thing is a two-timing bloodthirsty monster that tricked every single one of you into feeding her just so she could kill you all later! All sacrificing me will do is guarantee that she'll be able to do it! And as for that proxy shit, Coyote O'Donnell is the girl I love the most out of anyone in my life and I'm not going to let your stupid myth keep me from getting her back! And let me warn you right now: if you say one more word about her, I WILL BLOW YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!"

Never had Aphrodite been more frightened in her life than now. It was only for a moment when she came to a rather false revelation, and upon reaching it, she frowned.

"You are not the Miracle. Whoever you are, you will pay for trying to deceive us!"

"Oh, for Christ's sake…" Marcus grumbled.

"Yo!" yelled a voice from the door.

Everyone in the room turned to see Isaac cockily aiming his gun at the women.

"Alright, ladies. I'm not one to rain on parades, but this little shit storm is over. Get your hands in the air and back away from our darling ninja friend. Now!" he ordered.

The guards all raised their hands and backed away from Aileen…right as Aphrodite slashed Marcus across the chest.

"Son of a bitch, that hurt!" Marcus seethed.

"The Great Mother will not be slain by lowly worms such as you." she in an almost crazed tone. "She is divine…righteous…she will make sinners like you burn in everlasting…"

"Oh, fuck this. C'mere!"

In one swift motion, Marcus planted his hand on Aphrodite's head and demonstrated a new ability of his: letting her see what he had seen. She heard Kursed's voice making the threats against Corneria, she heard the pain she had caused Coyote, Peter, Anna, Chase, Damalgo, Leon…she heard everything. She heard AND saw everything. When Marcus brought his hand back, the look on Aphrodite's face was like she had just woken up from a nightmare.

"There. Are you happy now?" Marcus said.

In what seemed like an instant, Aphrodite buried her face in her hands and began to cry.

"She used me…I can't do anything right! I…I never should have listened to her!"

"I've been waiting to hear you say that, sister."

Aphrodite turned her head and yelped at the sight of her brother standing over her with a blank expression on his face. She scampered away from him on all fours, too frightened to even stand up and try to confront the person she had turned to stone three years ago…which now she saw had all been for nothing. Hephaestus advanced on her until she had backed herself into a wall.

"You caused our people so much pain…" he said. "You trusted a monster…and you had me, your own brother, turned to stone before the gaze of a creature we were told never to interact with."

Aphrodite said nothing. She knew her sins. She knew that whatever he was going to do was justified. The person who was concerned was Marcus. Was Hephaestus really going to kill his own sister right in front of everyone?

It certainly seemed like it. Right at that moment, Hephaestus drew his massive blade. Aphrodite gasped.

"Brother…please, no…don't…"

"When I woke up, you were all I thought about. I wanted to know why you had done all of this. Now I know. You just wanted your chance at ruling this world even though deep down, you knew you weren't ready. Knowing that, I came all this way to make something very clear to you."

The blade was raised. Sensing her doom being imminent, Aphrodite closed her eyes and let out a yelp when she heard the clang of impaling metal. However, it was not her body that had been impaled. She opened her eyes and saw that Hephaestus had planted the blade to his side. He got down on one knee and smiled into her wide and confused eyes.

"I forgive you."

Aphrodite sat still for one moment before rushing into her brother's open arms and embracing him.  
"I'm sorry, Brother." she sobbed. "I promise I won't ever do anything like this again…"

"It's alright, dear sister. Kursed will not live to see the sun finally rise on our planet."

Though these two were not related to them in any way, Marcus and Isaac couldn't stop their hearts from being warmed by this show of sibling love, nor could they keep themselves form smiling. With a well-deserved apology, the guards released Aileen from the pole and dripped some water into her mouth to help her regain consciousness.

"Wha…what happened…" she said groggily before seeing what was going on.

Light footsteps echoed in the hallways before Persephone emerged with a bright smile.

"And so a ray of hope has shed on our beloved world." she said before looking over her shoulder. "Come, children. Your families await you."

The children that Marcus had rescued from the mine came walking into the room. The guards were all severely shocked, thinking that the children would never forgive them for what they had done, but they saw they had nothing to worry about when the children came rushing to their parents and older siblings with bright smiles on their faces.

"Wow…can kids really forgive someone's sins this easily?" Marcus asked himself.

That said, he couldn't forgive Kursed. Aphrodite had done what she did because she thought she was doing the right thing. She was horribly misled, sure, but she at least thought she was doing the right thing. Kursed was simply pure evil. A pure evil that…we've gone over this several times already, haven't we?

"I've been enlightened." Aphrodite said, releasing her brother. "I'm not fit to rule this planet until I learn what it really means to do so. Hephaestus, you are our leader once again."

"Thank you, Sister, but no."

"No?"

Everyone was confused. Hephaestus had willingly taken the position of leader when his father had passed away, so why was he turning it down now? With that in mind, he began to explain.

"For the past few days, I've been in the presence on three very brave individuals who were willing to give there all for a common cause. Let us not forget that our leader was originally supposed to be Sabre. He turned this duty down on the grounds that he didn't find himself fit to lead us. I don't find myself fit to lead us, either, but one of the people I travelled with is. Marcus and Isaac are both very strong and courageous men, but I believe it's time for a strong and courageous woman to lead us."

Everyone had caught on in an instant, and to Aileen's surprise, they all knelt before her.

"May you lead us to further victory, great Queen Aileen." Hephaestus said humbly.

Aileen's expression was that of pure shock. She had been given the position that her father was supposed to have and she had no clue how to handle it. She wasn't a leader, so why did Hephaestus pass the duty on to her. No…she knew why.

"That little tramp!" she thought aggressively.

She shook the thoughts out and turned to Marcus.

"I may be the queen, but since he is the one destined to bring Kursed to the ground, Marcus will decide our next move."

Marcus nodded.

"I hate putting this off, but we'll rest here for the night." he said. "Tomorrow, we corner Kursed and bring her down once and for all."

**Several hours later…**

The joy of the reunion of Cerinia's families kept everyone up rather late until Aileen announced that they all needed to get to sleep. Once he was sure everyone had fallen silent and was asleep, Hephaestus slipped outside and looked up at the night sky. The haze seemed to be parting high above, letting the stars gleam down on him. He smiled. For once, everything was going right.

"I don't need to be the leader." he said to himself. "I'm happy just being who I am."

His ears pricked up when he heard footsteps. Turning his head, he saw Aileen walking towards him. He turned fully.

"Aileen? What are you doing up so…"

The last word didn't escape his mouth before Aileen slapped him across the face.

"OW! Come on, I didn't deserve that!"

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"What do you mean?"  
"You know damn well what I mean! You just let Aphrodite live after everything that she's done."  
"It's called mercy. You should try it."

Aileen furrowed her brow even further. As if she wasn't angry enough already.

"That woman forced children to mine for gemstones, she turned you into stone, and most of all, she killed my father right in front of me!"

"She's also my sister. I'm not going to kill my sister. Besides, she wasn't evil. She was misguided."

"You call murdering my father in cold blood misguided?! And what were you thinking making me the leader of Cerinia?! I have no experience with that sort of thing!"

"Well, look at it this way: you can finally start living."

"…what?"

Hephaestus clapped a hand down on her shoulder and smiled.

"I would hardly call running around the planet for three years steering clear of the rest of the tribe and having a grudge against my sister living. Wouldn't you? Now that this whole charade is coming to a close, you can start doing everything you wanted to do in life before all this happened. You can fall in love, you can have children. You can do anything you want now!"

"And why do you bring up falling in love and having children?"

Down came a giant metaphorical anvil, slamming into Hephaestus' head and alerting him that Aileen had seen through his ruse.

"Well, I…uhh…you see…"

"I see what?"

Aileen had no time to react before Hephaestus had kissed her directly on the mouth. Out of shock and some still-lingering disgust, she pulled back and slapped him across the face again. He rubbed at his smarting cheek without questioning it this time.

"Let me guess." Aileen growled. "You didn't deserve that, right?"  
"No, that one I DEFINITELY deserved."

"Why? Just…why?"

"Because…you are easily the most beautiful girl I have ever laid eyes on."  
"…go on."

"No, I think that should do it."  
"Do it or else."

"Or else what?"  
"Or else…I'll slap you again."

"Do you get a kick out of abusing me?"  
"Just get on with it."

Hephaestus shrugged and continued to speak. In truth, Aileen had been captivated by him the second he called her beautiful, and this captivation only grew the more he spoke.

"When you came running to me and warned me about what had happened, not only did I think you were very responsible, I thought you were brave, as well. Travelling around with you for the past couple days only proved I was right in judging you that way. I thought you were beautiful when you were fifteen, but I felt odd for looking at you that way since I was older than you."

"And now that I'm older by one year since you were frozen solid for three years, you don't feel bad about it?"

"No, I still do in a way. You've suffered far more than I have in this folly we've been forced into, and yet you still managed to pull through until the end. You're a strong and courageous woman…exactly what a good man would want in his wife."

Aileen looked away from him for a brief moment, though neither of them could ignore the smile that was steadily stretching across her face.

"The feeling…is mutual." she said slowly. "I always thought you were very brave…and handsome, too."

She turned her gaze back toward him, revealing her smile to be more of a salacious grin.

"Besides, I kind of like the idea of being dominant over you."

Hephaestus chuckled.  
"I can well imagine."

The two founds their hands meeting one another and their gazes locked. The moment of truth was on them. They couldn't be separated.

"Let's help Marcus to the best of our ability." Hephaestus whispered. "Let's work with him to make our homeland a truly better place."

"Yes…united, we as a tribe are strong…as are the two of us."

The emotions reached their peak and were finally released with a mutual and drawn-out kiss.

**_With all this chapter over and done with, I'm happy to announce that the winner of the Star Fox Subspecies cover contest is none other than Twilit Smash Nova , the author of the Super Smash Bros. Brawl fanfic "Space and Time Cannot Divide" (DeviantArt and Youtube username is SmasherNova if you want to check her stuff out. She's made some pretty kick-ass Brawl GMVs on Youtube). _**

**_Like many others, she has supported this story since the day I published the first chapter, and I'm very happy that she took part in this contest of mine. In all honesty, I wasn't expecting anyone to submit anything but she exceeded my...well, non-existent expectations by far. Congrats, Twilit, and I hope you and all the other readers enjoy the rest of the story!_**

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare- _"Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "_Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

_Coyote versus the shadows- _"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson

_The star Lylat- _Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime

_Marcus and Fox/Marcus and Chase- "_Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

_Fox versus Kursed- _"Du Hast" by Rammstein

_Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- _Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)

_The Nightstriker- _"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath

_The death of Commander Dane- _"Mad World" by Gary Jules

_The prisoners of Kew- _Byelomorye Dam from Goldeneye 64

_Escape from Sargasso- _"Hard to See" by Five Finger Death Punch

_Marcus and Wolf versus Master Hand and Crazy Hand- _Final Destination from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

_To Cerinia- "_Laser Cannon Deth Sentence" by Dethklok

_Aileen- _"Working Class Hero" by Green Day (Originally by John Lennon)

_The slaves- _"Forgotten Children" by Tokio Hotel

_Aileen's sorrow- _"Narcissistic Cannibal" by EarlyRise (Originally by Korn and Skrillex)

_Marcus and Aileen- _"Name" by the Goo Goo Dolls

_Aileen versus Aphrodite- _"This Fire Burns" by Killswitch Engage (suggested by ianagainstcliffhangers. Thanks, man!)


	22. 21: To Where the River Flows

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

**To Where the River Flows**

After gaining enough sleep, the group set out for the river Styx which would lead them to a mountain where Aphrodite believed Kursed had made her nest. The Cerinians gave Marcus the staff that would open the gateway to the mountain, bade them farewell and begged them to return safely, with Persephone remaining there to watch over them until they returned. They would need her kind of protection. They couldn't fend for themselves after recovering from the kind of shock they were given.

They rode on Telia's back for several miles before Aileen signalled her to stop and jumped down to the ground. By then, they had entered a very misty area of the forest where Marcus could swear there were small tree-dwelling creatures looking at him through the fog. The most outstanding feature, though, was the massive river with a small dock stretching over it, a single small canoe floating beside it. Aileen whispered something into Telia's ear and the grimtiger ran off almost instantly.

"Alright. Mount Tartaros is near the end of this river." Aileen said. "Everyone in the boat."

They didn't question it since there was no bridge built across it and swimming down the river was impossible unless you enjoyed being living driftwood. All four of them climbed into the canoe, with Aileen taking the front paddle and Hephaestus taking the rear one while Marcus and Isaac readied their weapons in case anything came flying out of the trees or jumping out of the water at them.

What certainly didn't help to ease the tense atmosphere was the fact they were moving into the lion's den. Marcus didn't want to admit it to anyone, let alone his newfound comrades, but he was frightened. Frightened of what Kursed might try to do to him here, and frightened of what she might try to do to them.

The canoe shifted through the water quietly and met no sort of resistance, but even with the rushing of the water, it was still too quiet for any of the four to settle into their seats…then they saw what was up ahead.

"Great. The peaceful boat ride turns into a scary funhouse since we're going headlong into a dark tunnel." Marcus groaned.

"No time to turn back now. Let's take this thing head on." Aileen said.

They paddled the boat into the tunnel, enveloping themselves in darkness and even worse silence. The current became strong enough to carry the boat without Aileen and Hephaestus having to use the paddles. Marcus sensed the tunnel very quickly to see if there might be anything that would cause a ruckus, and to his relief, there was nothing…though that didn't help reduce the shock of the boat suddenly being bumped up.

"Whoa, whoa, what was that?!" he exclaimed.

"Just calm down, Marcus." Hephaestus said sternly. "There's no sense in trying to fight something when you're stuck in a dark tunnel."

"I was afraid you'd say that…"

It was then that Marcus could feel his head begin to hurt. Was it just him, or could he hear someone…crying out in pain…Coyote?!

"No…NO! Don't hurt me! Please!"

What followed was Kursed chuckling seductively under her breath. The kind of laugh that made Marcus want to do the most violent things he could possibly imagine to her, and it continued the longer he tried his best to ignore it. He said nothing and merely strained his face in pain and almost horror. It didn't matter to the others since it was too dark to see him, but that didn't change how he felt about the ordeal. He couldn't bear to see Coyote in pain, let alone hear her screaming. Just hearing it made him realize just what Kursed could do to someone as tough as Coyote, and it made him fear what could possibly happen to him. It made him want to run home as fast as he could, but no. He'd come too far. He had to save her…so why wasn't this Goddamn boat going any faster?!

"Dammit…" he cursed. "She knows we're coming, doesn't she?"

"Eh?" Aileen asked.

"Never mind…"

All of a sudden, a loud and demonic roar filled the tunnel, forcing the four to duck down in terror. When it ceased, they sat up again.

"What the hell was that?!" Marcus sputtered.

"If I knew, would I be pulling this face?" Isaac asked.

"Great…except there was one problem with what you said there. What was it, oh yeah! I CAN'T SEE, DUMBASS!"  
"There's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going…there's no knowing where we're rowing or which way the river's flowing."

"What?!"

It occurred to Marcus that Isaac was groggily chanting. He sensed the room again and revealed that Isaac was rocking back and forth in his seat as he babbled out whatever was going on in his head.

"What's wrong with him?" Aileen asked.

"He's having some kind of nervous breakdown...she's seeping into his mind!"

"Is it raining, is it snowing? Is a hurricane a' blowing?" Isaac mumbled.

"Isaac!" Marcus said sternly. "You need to calm down."

Isaac didn't calm down. He stood up and looked at Marcus, horrifying the young McCloud when he saw that his eyes were flashing bright red and his mouth was stretched into a huge smile that was somehow visible in the darkness.

"Not a speck of light is showing, so the danger must be growing." Isaac said, his voice cracking on the last word and steadily getting louder. "Are the fire of Hell a' glowing? Is the grizzly reaper mowing?"

He was now on his knees with his face only inches from Marcus'.

"Yes! The danger must be growing for the rowers keep on rowing!"

Isaac grabbed Marcus' collar and pulled him towards his face, screaming the last words.

"AND THEY'RE CERTAINLY NOT SHOWING ANY SIGNS THAT THEY ARE…"

A metallic clang ran out and Isaac released his grip. With a quick sense, Marcus found him unconscious as Hephaestus repositioned his blade after hitting Isaac with the hilt of it.

"That should shut him up." he grumbled. "Now, then, Marcus. You seem have some idea of what that was all about, so would you care to explain it to us?"

He did. He told them of how Kursed could seep into your mind and psychologically turn you from a bodyguard for Hell's Angels to a crying infant in a matter of seconds, and how she had done exactly that to his closest friends. Both Aileen and Hephaestus were enraptured by the story, listening to every possible detail.

"And that's pretty much the biggest reason why she has to be stopped." Marcus concluded.

"And did Persephone really try to make THAT seem sympathetic?" Aileen asked. "Like she tried to make a certain other person seem sympathetic?"

"I said it once and I'll say it again." Hephaestus spoke up. "I'm not going to kill my sister."

"And you're not going to stop Marcus from killing his mother?"

Marcus slammed his fist down so hard that the boat rocked slightly in the water.  
"She is NOT my mother!" he growled.

"Calm down!" Aileen replied sternly. "Whether she's your mother or not doesn't matter. If she's going to do some unparalleled damage if she isn't kept in check, then I say kill her."

"Good. Nothing anyone says will stop me."

He scared himself with that line since he had just made himself sound like some kind of super villain, but it was the truth. He had to kill her before she did anything worse.

What brought his thoughts back to reality was the canoe steadily increasing in speed.

"Uhh…anyone care to tell me why we're going faster?" he asked.

"That's not right…people used to travel down this river all the time and this never happened…" Hephaestus murmured.

"Then what's going on?"

The canoe steadily picked up speed until it was speeding along, eventually shooting out the other side of the tunnel. What the group saw made them instantly regret not trying to simply find a bridge. Hephaestus had been down this river many times before he had been turned to stone, and before it had just been another section of the river leading to Tartaros. In its place was a massive waterfall that dropped off into what seemed to be a sinkhole, and they were headed right for it!

"Oh shit!" Aileen exclaimed. "What do we do now?!"

His eyes roaming all about in search of an escape route, Marcus set his sights on a tree branch hanging low enough for them to jump up and grab. There were, however, two problems. The first was that it would require them to jump at just the right time, and the second was that it was mere inches away from the waterfall. But really, what was worse: accepting your "fate" and plummeting down a waterfall, or at least trying to escape your "fate" though epically failing and still end up plummeting down a waterfall…real large span of options, eh?

"This is risky, but we'll have to take a jump for that branch!" Marcus yelled over the roar of the falls.

"Got it…Isaac, wake up!"

There was yet another problem: Isaac was still unconscious after Hephaestus had hit him over the head, and none of them could wake him up no matter how much they shook him.

"Goddammit…" Marcus grumbled.

"Tie him to my back!" Hephaestus barked. "I can carry him!"

"Taking responsibility for your actions. I like it."

"Do I have any other choice in the matter?"

"Nope."

Thinking this was the most insane thing he could have requested, Marcus nonetheless preformed the same trick he had performed on Peter on Lylat and tied Isaac to Hephaestus' back. The three that were still conscious stood up and bent their knees, preparing to jump.

"On my mark." Marcus said. "One…"

The three bit their lips and could feel beads of sweat running down their faces as the roaring grew louder.

"Two…"

The boat began to quake under their feet and was beginning to tilt up out of the water in the direction the falls were going. Finally, when the boat was just about to go over…

"THREE!"

They jumped and all successfully grabbed the branch as the boat fell away into a watery oblivion. The pure adrenaline the situation was giving them nearly made their hands slip, especially the tension of having their legs dangling who knew how many feet off the ground. Using whatever amount of strength they had, they pulled themselves up.

"Well, THAT was fun." Aileen panted.  
"You're telling me OH SHIT!"

At that moment, Hephaestus' hand had slipped and Marcus had vaulted himself over to grab his hand just in time. Unfortunately, Hephaestus must have weighed somewhere between 160 and 200 pounds thanks to his sword, nearly snapping Marcus' arm from the pressure of all the weight. He let out a sharp cry of pain that turned into severe groaning as the strain grew steadily worse the longer he held onto Hephaestus. By that time, Isaac was stirring awake, and once he saw what was going on, he let out a yelp and started bucking around.

"Stop moving, you idiot!" Aileen yelled at him.

Marcus took in several deep breathes and shut his eyes, letting out a loud battle cry before summoning all his strength and hauling his two comrades up and away from danger. With it said and done, the four began edging their way along the branch to reach solid ground, dropping once they were within range of it.

"Marcus…I owe you my life." Hephaestus sighed.

"Everyone has at some point." Marcus replied. "Don't worry about it. It's just what I do."

"Tartaros isn't far." Aileen spoke up. "Let's move."

**Several minutes later…**

"God, my feet hurt…" Isaac groaned.

"Do you ever stop whining?" Aileen asked with a roll of her eyes. "I thought vigilantes had to be good at running to be good at anything else."  
"Actually we use star fighters."

"Exactly, and…wait, what's a star fighter?"

"You'll know when you see one."

The group was closing in on Tartaros, staying wary of anything that might occur on their way there. The silence wasn't nearly as bad as it had been when they were in the tunnel, but it was still enough to make them become startled when a rustling rang out from the bushes a dozen feet away.

"Shh…" Aileen whispered. "Marcus, give us a sense real quick."

Marcus obeyed.

"Yeah, there's something there…a few inches taller than me."

"Alright." Aileen replied. "I'll go first. Back me up if something goes wrong."

She got down on all fours and crawled very carefully towards the bushes, and once she was close enough, she stood up, unsheathed one of her blades and leapt through them with a loud cry. What replaced after a mere nanosecond was a loud grunt of pain escaping from Aileen's throat and what sounded much like a struggle before another voice started barking demands at her.

"Okay, lady, you've got ten seconds to tell me where Marcus is! And don't you dare give me any bullshit!"

"Hey, t-take it easy!" Aileen stammered. "You're twisting my arm!"

"Tell me where Mark is or the arm comes off!"  
"W-what?! You wouldn't do that!"

The situation itself wasn't what caught Marcus off-guard. It was the voice threatening Aileen. It carried a loud accent that came across as a punk from Brooklyn, and it not only stood out, but it sounded familiar.

"No way…it can't be."

Marcus and the others ran through the bushes to find Aileen pinned to the ground with someone pointing a gun right at her head, and that someone was…

"Falco!" Marcus and Isaac both said in a bewildered tone.

Falco looked up from his hostage and saw the two. Right away, he released Aileen with a smile.  
"Mark! You're okay!"

"Of course I'm okay! What are you doing here?!"

"The team came back to Corneria after they lost track of you and called for backup. Katt and I came as soon as we heard."  
"You and Katt?"

As if on cue, Katt walked from the bushes with a bundle of blankets in the crook of her arm.  
"It's been a while, Mark." she said with a smirk, though this smirk turned into a look of surprise when she turned her attention to her brother. "Isaac?!"

Isaac smirked and walked in to embrace his sister.

"It's good to see you, sis." he said happily before turning to Falco. "Could have invited me to your wedding, buddy."

"I get the feeling you would have been too cool to show up." Falco shot back.

"Sounds like you're describing yourself."

They gave each other irritated looks before smiling and giving one another a brotherly hug.

"Good to see you, bud." Falco said.

Falco turned to the Cerinians and crossed his arms.

"So they're with you, then?"

"You couldn't tell by the way we were walking with Marcus?" Aileen grumbled, rubbing her sore arm.

Marcus stepped forward and was about to explain, but Falco held up his hand.

"Don't bother. The team told me about the whole Kursed thing."

"Great…so where are they?"

"They're on their way now. They're bringin' backup, and lots of it."  
"Good…I don't think we'll need that much, but it's still good. What's Katt got there?"

The two smiled.  
"Why don't you come see for yourself?" said Katt.

Marcus stepped forward and looked into the little opening. To his surprise, there were two small blue eyes blinking back at him. What was wrapped up in the blankets was a baby girl with light violet fur with some blue trailing down her arms. She reached out at Marcus' face, to which he responded by leaning closer in. The baby gently touched Marcus' cheek and cooed.

"She's wonderful…" he said in mesmerisation. "What's her name?"

"Casey." Falco said with a grin. "It was my mom's name."

"Casey Lombardi…"

Isaac looked at Casey with astonishment and grew a huge grin.

"Holy crap, I'm an uncle!" he beamed. "…I better get married and have kids so the little devil's got someone to play with, huh?"

Everyone laughed heartily, and then Katt bit her lip nervously.

"And, umm…Marcus, if it's alright with you…we'd like you to be her godfather."

What washed into Marcus' heart was nothing short of surprise and awe. The thought of being a father had been lingering in his mind for quite some time after his parents had discussed his future with him, though this was thankfully slightly more condensed than the discussions most teenagers would have with their parents on the subject since he already had a well-paying job. He wasn't sure that he could even babysit a child, let alone raise one, yet here were Falco and Katt, two of his closest friends, asking him to take care of their child if something ever happened to them.

He smiled. How could he resist?

"I will. Any family of a fellow Star Fox member is a family of mine."

Aileen and Hephaestus now gathered around Katt to get a good look at Casey, marveling at just how different she looked from other children while Falco took Marcus off to the side.

"Speaking of Star Fox, Mark…there's something I need to say that might make you a little upset."

"I'd rather not hear it. I've had enough upsetting news for one lifetime."  
"Sorry. It's gotta be said…once this little scuffle's over, I'm out."

"Out? What do you mean out?"

"I mean I'm retiring as a member of Star Fox."

To hear that someone was leaving the time permanently was shocking enough, but to hear it coming from Falco Lombardi was one of the most insane things Marcus had ever heard, though it gradually became less insane once Falco had gotten a chance to explain his motivation for doing so.

"I kinda had second thoughts about saying this for a while, but there's really no denying that I'm not in a position to do this anymore. I mean, I've got a family now. Yeah, we just appointed you as Casey's godfather, but I want to spend as much time as I can with my kid before I start losing the opportunities."

"I guess that's understandable. That's exactly how my dad felt about it before I was born."

"And he was right. The only reason I really joined up with you guys in the first place was to keep an eye on you, Chase, and Annie since you were all so young. But look at you now. Nineteen years old and nowhere to go but up."

Marcus smirked.

"I'm not alone on that one."  
"Certainly not…and that just brings me back to what Fox said all those years ago. Piloting for this team is a young man's game, Mark, and facts are facts. I'm turning fifty real soon…I'm too old for this shit."

Marcus stood emotionless for a moment, but finally smiled and clapped a hand down on Falco's shoulder.

"Okay. Even though I disagree with your decision, I accept it."

"Thanks. Mind you, that doesn't mean I ain't gonna help for this one last skirmish. In fact…"

Marcus suddenly found a pistol slipped into his hand. He smirked at the thought of having some more firepower, but then something else came to his mind. It was the vision that had occurred when he had defeated Lolita Ferdinand. Would that vision come true within the next few hours? No…he also remembered that he didn't believe in a set fate. If it was the future, he could change it. With that in mind, he secured the pistol onto his belt before turning to the rest of the group.

"Everybody, let's go. Tartaros isn't too far away from here."

They nodded.

"I'll stay here with Katt." Aileen said. "She and Casey need protection."  
"Okay. Take this." Falco replied.

He handed her a flare gun.

"We'll have back up flying in soon enough. You'll hear them long before you see them, so when you do, shoot a flare up. They'll be there as fast as they can."

"Understood. Now go."

Marcus, Isaac, Falco and Hephaestus set off down the craggy path that steadily grew narrower the further they went. Every one of them kept up their guards, ready to strike at anything that would lash out at them. The sky was beginning to turn an increasingly darker shade than it had already been, and the ground began to look rather gray and lifeless.

"Jeez, this place is givin' me the creeps." Falco grumbled. "Your surrogate mother or whatever the hell she is certainly made her hideout conspicuous."

"Yeah…really, I'm just hoping we get there before we all go completely insane." Marcus said in a monotone voice.

"Ditto." Isaac replied, shuddering after thinking about what had happened to him in the tunnel. "She can really do that kind of shit to a guy?"

"Yeah. That and tear you limb from limb if she wants."

Finally, they arrived at a giant stone wall with a notch in a small area of it. Not thinking twice, Marcus slammed the tip of Aphrodite's staff into it. The staff slid out of his grasp and into the hole, and with a low rumbling, the section of the wall that had been struck slid out of sight, revealing the ominous-looking mountain he had seen when he first arrived here.

"Well, this doesn't seem the least bit malevolent." Hephaestus said.

"Yeah, but I don't know about this…" Isaac questioned. "I mean, it seems like someone with the kind of power Kursed has would create some pretty heavy defenses and we just kinda…hiked here."

"You know, it's that kind of questioning that completely ruins the somewhat triumphant mood. Stop talking."

"In any case," Falco spoke up. "No sense standing around here debating it. "Let's get that bitch!"

The four ran forward with Marcus being the first to go through the opening…as well as the only one. When the other three tried to run in after him, they were suddenly hit with a searing pain before being launched backwards.

"What the…" Marcus sputtered upon looking behind him. "What just happened?!"

"This is a ritualistic Cerinian hex." Hephaestus grumbled. "Only those belonging to a certain bloodline can enter through this gate. The only other way would be to come from above, and not only is that too risky, it's damn near impossible."

"So what you're saying is…"

"It seems like it." Falco sighed. "Sorry, Mark. You're on your own."

Marcus had never been so unnerved to hear those words in his entire life, but as the other three turned and started trekking back to where they had been before, he realized he had no other choice. They didn't want to leave him behind but he was running out of time. Kursed could do something horrible to Coyote with the time it would take to try and come in from the top. He turned toward the mountain and began walking towards, knowing for certain that this would be the most nerve-wracking mission he ever took on.

Not only was he up against his worst nightmare, but he was up against her by himself. He kept moving, though not being able to shake the thought that for the first time in his life, he was truly and undeniably alone.

_Yeah, sorry for the lack of action this chapter, but don't worry. A certain rival of Marcus' from the last story is making a reappearance next chapter. Who is it? Well, take a guess._

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare- _"Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "_Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

_Coyote versus the shadows- _"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson

_The star Lylat- _Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime

_Marcus and Fox/Marcus and Chase- "_Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

_Fox versus Kursed- _"Du Hast" by Rammstein

_Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- _Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)

_The Nightstriker- _"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath

_The death of Commander Dane- _"Mad World" by Gary Jules

_The prisoners of Kew- _Byelomorye Dam from Goldeneye 64

_Escape from Sargasso- _"Hard to See" by Five Finger Death Punch

_Marcus and Wolf versus Master Hand and Crazy Hand- _Final Destination from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

_To Cerinia- "_Laser Cannon Deth Sentence" by Dethklok

_Aileen- _"Working Class Hero" by Green Day (Originally by John Lennon)

_The slaves- _"Forgotten Children" by Tokio Hotel

_Aileen's sorrow- _"Narcissistic Cannibal" by EarlyRise (Originally by Korn and Skrillex)

_Marcus and Aileen- _"Name" by the Goo Goo Dolls

_Aileen versus Aphrodite- _"This Fire Burns" by Killswitch Engage (suggested by ianagainstcliffhangers. Thanks, man!)

_The river Styx- _"Where the River Flows" by Collective Soul (see what I did there?)


	23. 22: Welcome to Hell

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

**Welcome to Hell**

The moment Marcus had stepped into the tunnel entrance of Tartaros, it shut itself and did not open. Kursed wasn't going to let him run away after he had come this far, but then again, why would he want to? He was this close to rescuing Coyote…he couldn't give up now…he WOULDN'T give up!

What troubled him was the environment around him. It was very dark, somewhat cramped, and uncomfortably quiet. If he was right, Kursed would be somewhere near the top of the mountain since the top of a tower or mountain or what have you is usually where all bad guys make their homes. That said, he didn't know if it was only her there. He knew Coyote had to be here somewhere, whether with Kursed or guarding the passage to her. What if there was something else? Something to protect Coyote.

Marcus exited the tunnel and found himself in a large room with a small path leading higher up, but the issue was that there was barely enough room to walk on it and the risk of falling into a giant crevice that took up much of the room if he slipped. Nevertheless, he pressed his back against the wall and steadily worked his way up the path, his heart beating like a hammer from the tension the situation brought with it.

He grunted in pain when a rock sticking out of the wall sliced a thin wound in his back, but he carried on despite the feeling of a light trickle of blood running down his body. He began to ascend higher and higher, becoming steadily more tired the longer it took him. He was tired, he was hungry…and he was alone. No one could help him. As a sort of people person, having people to talk to was something that kept him from becoming nervous, and since he was alone in a dark cave with nothing but his staff to light the way and no one else but his possessed girlfriend and his evil surrogate mother in the mountain with him. Not only was there blood running down his back, but sweat was starting to run down his face from both exhaustion and even a little bit of fear.

As he was about halfway through ascending, he let out a terrified gasp as his foot slipped and he had to stab his staff into the rock surface to stop from falling into the abyss. Once he had recovered from the shock, he pulled himself back onto the ledge and continued his ascent, watching his step and keeping his eyes and ears attentive to his surroundings.

Finally, after much patience, he was deposited in front of a long rock tunnel leading directly upward. There were several notches in the walls that would allow him to climb up, and he proceeded to do so once he had clipped his staff to his back. He reached up and pulled himself higher and higher with his hands and feet until he grabbed one notch and felt his hand slip from it. Letting out a loud cry, he fell back to the ground and slammed into it. He writhed around in pain for a few brief moments, covered in cuts spilling his own blood. He wanted to cry, and he never cried when he was injured, but here the pain was so intense and grieving that it still made him want to do it. And with the pain came some very grieving thoughts.

Why was everything suddenly working against him? It couldn't just be because it was Kursed's will. It felt like God Himself didn't want Marcus to rescue Coyote. Everything was starting to seem pointless, like he'd have to put his all into just walking a few feet. He resisted, steadily getting to his feet and beginning his ascent up the tunnel once again once another thought had plugged itself into his mind. He needed to rescue Coyote now. Not because Kursed would do something awful to her if he didn't (though that was certainly a large contributing factor), but because that pistol on his belt was starting to look very friendly.

Thankfully he didn't slip as he had done last time (an excellent feeling since he had just seriously considered suicide) and managed to heave himself into a large circular room with large stalactites hanging from the ceiling and stalagmites jutting from the ground like jagged teeth. As soon as he walked in, he heard a low rumbling noise and turned to find that the tunnel he had used to arrive in this room had been sealed off.

"Just as well." he muttered. "Wouldn't wanna go back through there after nearly paralyzing myself."

With that, he began looking around for another way out of the room. As he did so, his ears pricked up as something rushed by him. He spun around with his staff unsheathed and found nothing.

"Goddammit…" he said under his breath. "I knew there had to be some kinda of monster waiting for…"

"Hiya, pal!" rang out a voice from above him.

"…you've gotta be fuckin' kidding."

The voice…it was Marcus' own voice though he hadn't spoken it, and it spoke with a mocking tone. He looked above and saw someone hanging from the stalactites with a malicious grin on his face. Someone Marcus was hoping he'd never have to see again.

"Holy shit, how are you living?!" Marcus sputtered. "I vaporized you, for Christ's sake!"

"Yeah, well, where was I gonna go? Detroit?"

It wasn't that there was a hostile monster in the room with him that caught Marcus off-guard. It was who that monster was, because the being leering down at him was none other than Malice, an evil clone of his from three years ago. While before he had simply wanted to drag Marcus to Kursed by his tail, he certainly didn't have that in mind now.

"Doesn't anybody know how to stay dead anymore?!" Marcus growled.

"Not in this day and age and certainly not now, mac." Malice chuckled before dropping from the ceiling. "Y'know, you beat me real good, pal, but before I was being cocky. In any case, we've got a score to settle."

Marcus tightened his grip on his staff.

"So what's your idea?"

Malice smirked before reaching behind him and producing his own staff, a weapon Marcus had never seen him use before.

"None of that chain bullshit and no trying to drag you to the Great Mother." he said, his mocking expression having vanished. "For real. Like men."

Marcus gritted his teeth and sank into a ready stance.

"Fine by me."

Malice made the first move, lunging at Marcus with the full intention of impaling him on the staff. Marcus parried the blow and brought his knee up into Malice's chin, knocking him back a little ways.

"Good move, buddy." Malice chuckled. "Still as light on your feet as I remember."

"How much could you possibly remember?" Marcus spat as he lunged at his rival, only for his attack to be blocked.

"Let's see…you vaporized me with a beam of light from your staff, which I still don't think makes any sense…I woke up a few years later with the Great Mother treating as kindly as she always did…oh, and she had a hot wolf babe with her as her proxy. Is she yours?"

"She's not a proxy, you son of a bitch!"

"She certainly looked like one."

Marcus let out an angered roar before spinning his staff around his hand, thwacking Malice across the face several times as a result. In retaliation, Malice seized the staff and punched Marcus in the throat, rendering him out of breath long enough for a kick backwards onto his rear end.

"Hey, come on, bro!" Malice laughed. "You're better than that! We both know that!"

"You're complimenting me. I feel so reassured now…"

"You're quite welcome, sucker."

"That's better."

Marcus got to his feet and dodged Malice's next few strikes before jabbing his staff at him. In what seemed like the cheapest display of agility, Malice front-flipped over the attack and slammed his forehead against Marcus' face. Marcus himself let out a sharp cry of pain once he felt a trickle of blood fly out of his nose.

"Ooo, that looked like it hurt." Malice mocked.

"That's because it DID hurt." Marcus growled back.

"Anywho, tell me about this wolf girl of yours. What's she like? You two have a good love life? Good sex life?"

"None of your business considering you're gonna be dead and hanging from the rafters by your guts before long!"  
"Number one: there's stalactites. Number two: what makes you think beating me is gonna bring you any closer to rescuing what's-her-face?"  
"Coyote."

"Yeah, her. What makes you think beating me is gonna bring you any closer to saving her?"

"Why wouldn't it?"

Marcus flipped backward and fired the Hyper Beam. Sadly, Malice saw it coming and flipped away before zipping forward grabbing Marcus by the back of the head.

"So close yet so far." he snickered. "And what I meant was…well, you went to school so you should know already."

"I…only went to school until I was ten."

"Really now? No wonder you're so damn stupid."  
"I WAS HOME-SCHOOLED, FUCKHEAD!"

"Vulgar language. It's appreciated."

In order to get Marcus to stop shouting long enough for him to get his point across, Malice started slamming his poor double's face into a nearby stalagmite.

"Now, are you gonna let me talk?" Malice asked.  
"Fuck…you…" Marcus groaned, his face drenched in blood.

"I'll take that as a yes. You ever heard of the Hero's Journey?"  
"Sure…why does that matter?"  
"Do you know what it is?"  
"An archetype by which many famous stories go by."

"…huh. I guess you're not so stupid. In any case, you crossed the threshold, you met the mentor, yadda yadda yadda. You know what else is an event in there?"

"Return? I'd certainly like to go home right about now."

"Good guess, but no. It's the loss of the elixir."

He leaned in with a sadistic grin and narrowed eyes.

"And what's your elixir? The thing that means the most to you?"

Those words brought that horrible vision back into his mind. He wouldn't dare let something like that happen. It was the future! He could change it…right?

Whatever the case, the thought of it made Marcus extremely angry, resulting in him finally overpowering Malice and booting him away. He drew the pistol from his belt, aimed it, and began firing whenever he had a clear shot.

"Guns, eh?" Malice said with a laugh. "Now it's gettin' REALLY fun!"

Much to Marcus' anger, Malice swiftly dodged every single bullet before running forward with a strong kick. Marcus ducked under it a landed a punch to Malice's groin before suplexing him and slamming his head into the ground.

"Nice one…ow…." Malice groaned, rolling to his feet and prepping his staff. "Now it's my turn to pop a few shots off."

"Bring it on, douchebag!"

"Such a need to insult. I never knew you could be so monstrous, Mark. You're becoming more like the Great Mother every second."

"Shut up! I'm not like her and I never will be like her, and if you say it again I'll tear your throat out!"

"Ooo, yeah, you're real scary. Wanna play ball?"

Malice began shooting his own Fire Blaster, forcing Marcus to bend and flip every which way to avoid being hit, but still failed to dodge the last hit when Malice faked him out by pretending he was going to run forward. Marcus let out a yell of pain when the flames licked him for a brief moment, then crouched down just in time to avoid another blow from Malice's staff.

"So what's the deal, Mark? You gonna get off your high horse and actually put up a fight or just lie down and make things easier for me?"

"No. I'm going to rescue Coyote whether you and Kursed like it or not!"

"Really? How do you know she's not dead already? Maybe the Great Mother drank her in."

"No…she wouldn't be. I've come to far just to have my hopes dashed like that."

"Fun fact for ya: the righteous don't always win out in the end. Who's to say you haven't lost already?"

"SHUT UP!"

Marcus got to his feet and tackled Malice to the ground, pinning him down and throwing several brutal punches at his face. Malice simply maneuvered himself around Marcus' blows before vaulting him off and running toward the wall. As soon as he got there, he kicked off of it and began hanging from the stalactites above again. Marcus gritted his teeth and slammed his staff downward to release a huge quake, but Malice simply smirked.

"Nope. No use quaking the place. Not gonna do a thing."

With that, he began firing down upon Marcus with the Fire Blaster. In a fit of rage, Marcus bent his knees and miraculously jumped about forty feet into the air, shocking Malice greatly when he grabbed him around the legs.

"Why don't you come join me?" Marcus mocked. "There's a nice cold and hard ground waiting to meet you!"

The two plummeted back down, but unfortunately Malice had flipped them around and drove Marcus against the floor. Marcus himself felt his ribs begin to crack from the pain, but he let out no cry of pain since he could barely breathe. Malic stood up and lightly nudged Marcus' side with his foot.

"It's too much effort, isn't it?" he asked. "Just give up, Mark. Even if you beat me, you're not gonna save her."

"Just shut up!" Marcus whined, tears steadily seeping from his eyes. "What do YOU know? You're just a stupid clone!"

"Even so, I seem to know more about your situation than you do, eh? The Great Mother is too strong for you, Mark. Just give up and go home."

"I can't…I can't leave Coyote…I love her…"

Malice smirked and rolled his eyes.

"There's that thing again. Love. What's the big deal? It's a simple as just screwing some chick and creating more kids. That's all that matters to everyone and everything. They don't care about who helps them along the way. They simply have one goal above all else: survive. That's what it means to exist: to survive. Not to love and be loved. Survive. Prove you're the best…prove you should be the only one that matters."

"I don't care about any of that. Hell, I don't even care if I don't survive. I want her to live on and have a good happy life even if I have to die in her place…and nothing you say will ever change that!"

"I thought not. You're not quite like everyone else, Marky boy. You're unique, as much as I hate to admit it."

"Yeah…why don't I show you?"

Marcus' eyes flash a brilliant white and the room became full of intense fog as he booted Malice off. When the evil clone made an attempt to attack, all he struck was empty air. He looked all about for Marcus and found nothing. He let out a cackle.

"Maybe you forgot, Mark. I've got all the same abilities as you."

Malice sensed the room and picked up a signal behind him right as it swung. He dodged it and stabbed it in the stomach, only to find it wasn't Marcus. Simply an illusion Marcus had generated.

"Maybe YOU forgot." the real Marcus growled from some unknown area. "I'm not as stupid as you might think."

Malice began to steadily become more nervous, and he never got nervous. Was Marcus about to outwit him yet again? He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't be beaten by this whiny teenage boy twice in a row. He had to do for the Great Mother.

"Mark-o?" he called. "Come on out. Let's not forgot we said we'd do this for real like men."  
"We are doing it like men." said Marcus from a few feet away. "Supernatural men."

Malice slashed at Marcus, only to find that this was also an illusion.

"Mark-o?"

No answer.

"Mark-o?"

"POLO!"

Malice's screams of pain filled the air when Marcus suddenly dropped from the ceiling and severed his arms.

"No!" he hollered. "I can't lose to you again!"

"Too bad. Your number's up. Now go to Hell and stay there!"

Stabbing Malice through the chest to keep him in place, Marcus grabbed his neck and heaved until his head came off, spine and all. He threw it down on the ground and kicked it away before drawing his staff back and giving it a good shake to get rid of all the blood.

Only then did he realize exactly what he had just done.

"Good God…I didn't just kill him…I outright slaughtered him!"

Marcus slumped to his knees from both guilt and exhaustion since pulling off a stunt like that used up a lot of energy. He had just done the same things Coyote did whenever her instincts took over. Was he becoming just like the monster she'd become after staying on this planet for this long? No…he knew why. A familiar quote of Kursed's from three years ago echoed in his mind.

"My blood courses through your veins."

And course it did. He WAS like her in one way or another. There was nothing he could do about it, and just this thought alone made him very angry.

That anger would have to wait since an exit had just appeared. Getting to his feet, he began walking towards it, finding that it was another dark tunnel. He sucked in a breath and walked into it, the opening shutting after him.

No going back now…not that he wanted to.

Then something even stranger happened. A light appeared from far away and high above, like he'd have to ascend a massive flight of stairs to get to it. The thing was that Marcus could see his own body like it was broad daylight, but everything save for him and the light was pure blackness. Stranger still was that when he took a step forward, there was no sound when his foot stopped moving. There was also no feeling of resistance when his foot landed, like there was nothing underneath him even though he wasn't falling. He was walking on air.

And at last, there came Coyote's moans from far. Not the monster that had taken over, but Coyote's own sweet voice.

"Marcus…is that you?" she groaned.

A glint of hope slipped into Marcus' conscious and he began breathing in relief.

"Yes! I'm here! I'm coming for you!" he called.

He began walking quickly toward the light, but stopped moving when Coyote spoke again.

"No…Mark, don't come. Run away…you have to run away now!"

"But…I can't! I have to save you!"

"Run away! Please…I'm not who I used to be…"

Then a third voice slithered out of nowhere. The voice of that monster that Marcus was trying so desperately hard to defeat.

"And why would he run away, pray tell?" she asked. "He's worked so hard, come so far. Why would he turn back now when he's this close to achieving his goal?"

The horrible sound of Coyote rasping for breath filled Marcus' ears, forcing him to wince and yell out as he picked up his pace.

"Leave her alone!" he shouted. "She doesn't have anything to do with our fight!"

"Then what are you waiting for, Marcus?" Kursed responded. "Hurry…she's waiting for you."

"Mark…please…run…" Coyote said sadly, audibly starting to shed pained tears.

Marcus didn't listen to Coyote's plea. His pace increased until he was sprinting toward the light as fast as he could. He wasn't going to run away when he was this close and after he had come so far. He ran into the blinding light, shielding his eyes with only one thought on his mind.

"Save her…"

* * *

_Well, this came out pretty quickly, eh?_

_I can safely say that after much effort, Marcus will finally reach Coyote in the next chapter. Here's the thing: I think some people might react to this next chapter the same way people reacted to Dante's redesign in the new Devil May Cry game...as in I may get some death threats. I'm not singling anyone out on this one, but I'm just saying that it's a possibility. You'll see why soon enough._

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare/"Save her..."- _"Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "_Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

_Coyote versus the shadows- _"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson

_The star Lylat- _Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime

_Marcus and Fox/Marcus and Chase- "_Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

_Fox versus Kursed- _"Du Hast" by Rammstein

_Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- _Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)

_The Nightstriker- _"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath

_The death of Commander Dane- _"Mad World" by Gary Jules

_The prisoners of Kew- _Byelomorye Dam from Goldeneye 64

_Escape from Sargasso- _"Hard to See" by Five Finger Death Punch

_Marcus and Wolf versus Master Hand and Crazy Hand- _Final Destination from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

_To Cerinia- "_Laser Cannon Deth Sentence" by Dethklok

_Aileen- _"Working Class Hero" by Green Day (Originally by John Lennon)

_The slaves- _"Forgotten Children" by Tokio Hotel

_Aileen's sorrow- _"Narcissistic Cannibal" by EarlyRise (Originally by Korn and Skrillex)

_Marcus and Aileen- _"Name" by the Goo Goo Dolls

_Aileen versus Aphrodite/Marcus versus Malice- _"This Fire Burns" by Killswitch Engage (suggested by ianagainstcliffhangers. Thanks, man!)

_The river Styx- _"Where the River Flows" by Collective Soul


	24. 23: Goodbye Forever

_**WARNING**_

_**This chapter was very painful to write and may cause crying, angst and fanboyish/fangirlish rage. If this kind of stuff isn't your bag, I suggest taking a few moments to prepare yourself because skipping this chapter isn't going to solve anything.**_

_**In short, before you decide to tear me a new one, don't say I didn't warn you.**_

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

**Goodbye Forever**

The light finally faded as Marcus stepped outside onto a large circular plateau. The passageway he had taken vanished behind him as expected and he saw that the path to the summit was blocked off by a translucent gate glowing violet. Unlike the last room, this area was an entire pool of ankle-high water, which Marcus began to splash over his wounds in hopes of washing away all the blood his injuries had stained his fur with, dropping to his knees as he did so.

After the clash with Malice, this water was sanctuary. He cupped it into his mouth and drank away the dry and coarse feeling in his throat, breathing heavily as he did so. He gazed into the reflection a little longer and looked at the sky. While on the outside, it would be logical to assume that there would be nothing but storm clouds here, but no. Marcus could see the beauty of all the stars in the sky twinkling above him like the same peaceful night on Sauria…that same night when…

He sighed. That seemed so long ago when really it had only been three years. He adored that night and every similar night after it. Why couldn't he just go back to that? Why did he have to work so hard just to save someone? Would he really go to the edge of the universe and back for Coyote? Well, yes because he was already there, and she was worth that…every person he cared about was worth that, and they thought the same about him.

Then came something else. Was he really worth this? This was his battle to face alone and everybody he loved was being caught up in it. It wasn't just because Kursed was targeting them to get to him. They wanted to propel him towards victory…but why? He was just one person. Space and time wouldn't collapse on themselves if he were to die. In fact, as long as Kursed couldn't get her dirty paws on his soul, it wouldn't matter if he died…maybe…maybe he was better off dead.

"No." he muttered. "That kind of thinking is for cowards. I'm going to stick through this to the end…but first, another sip of water."

When he went to drink some more, though, he saw a reflection in the water other than his own. A reflection of someone standing right behind him.

"Coyote?"

He stood and turned around to face her. There she was, looking completely normal save for her eyes being shut. If anything, she looked tired. Marcus stepped forward and began lifting his hand. He hesitated for a brief moment. He still remembered how horrible it had been to watch her change right in front of him, and after what he had just heard only moments ago…could he really just ignore that?

Whatever the case, he reached out and gently brushed his fingertips against Coyote's soft cheek. She reacted with a light exhale, and for a moment Marcus breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that she was back and the whole proxy story was just that: a story.

How wrong he was.

She opened her eyes and revealed that they were in the same blank state they had been before and were opened impossibly wide. Upon seeing Marcus, she growled in an unnatural way, sounding nothing like a wolf and far more like a demonic beast.

"Isn't it beautiful how much instincts can better a person, Marcus?" Kursed whispered from thin air.

"You…you call this bettering her?!" Marcus said in a panicked state. "You've turned her into a complete abomination!"

"Me? I didn't do a damn thing. And take it easy with the insults. That's your girl there."

"Why…why are you doing this? I love Coyote with all my heart and you're going to make me fight her again?!"

"It would be some fine entertainment, sure, but I'm not going to make you fight her."

Here he could swear she had been smirking from wherever she was, making want to stab his staff right down her throat and watch her choke on it.

"There's always the option of you just lying down and accepting your fate."

"Fate my aching ass!"

"So that's how you want this to go down, eh? Fine by me. Coyote, dear!"

Coyote snapped to attention and listened intently.

"I want you to have as much fun with darling little Marcus as you can." Kursed said softly. "But remember: don't go all the way with him. I need him alive, so bring him straight to me when you're finished."

Coyote grinned maniacally and turned her head toward Marcus, making a frightening strained breathing sound like she was insane rather than hostile.

"Coyote, don't!" Marcus cried out. "It's me! Marcus!"

"Nope. That's not gonna do a thing, sweetie." Kursed mocked. "She's her own mistress now."

Marcus felt a tear seep from his eye as Coyote began advancing on him menacingly. In one last ditch effort, he uttered the same words he had uttered after the Kew mission to try and calm her down. The Purifying Blast was released and struck Coyote at full force, but to Marcus' horror, it was completely ineffective.

"Coyote, please…" he begged, his voice now barely a whisper. "…I love you."

Coyote stopped walking towards him and her crazed expression seemed to fade away. A small shred of hope slipped into Marcus' heart as Coyote gently reached for him. He closed the gap by gently taking her hand…and instantly regretted it when the crazed expression returned worse than before.

"Fooled ya…" she seethed.

Marcus let out a surprised yelp as the spindly tentacles he'd seen before erupted from Coyote's back, seized his arm and threw him high into the air before slamming him down on the ground again. Marcus unsheathed his staff and reluctantly stabbed one of the tentacles with it, causing Coyote to let out a horrid shriek and release him and give him enough time to get back to his feet.

"Oh, God…this can't be happening!" he panted.

He didn't want to hurt Coyote, but he still had his staff ready to strike if she so much as came near him. Was there no way to get her to calm down? Was the girl he knew and loved more than anything really gone forever?

There was no time to ponder on this thought as Coyote roared and bounded towards him. He cartwheeled out of the way, not daring to counterstrike. One of the tentacles came whipping right as his face, which he responded to be ducking and out of habit hooking to Coyote's groin. She grunted and glared at him before kicking him in the chest and sending him sprawling backwards, as well as further injuring his already-cracked ribs from the fight with Malice.

Malice…that one thing that he had said still lingered in Marcus' mind. The loss of the elixir…Coyote was his elixir. The thing he loved the most. Was he going to lose her to her own dreadful instincts? Or was he going to lose his own life by her hands?

He didn't know. Nothing made sense to him anymore. It didn't make sense that Kursed had attacked his friends instead of him. It didn't make sense that she had chosen Coyote as a proxy, and it certainly didn't make sense that Coyote's tentacles had wrapped around his ankles and slammed him into the ground, not only further injuring him but causing him great emotional pain as well.

As he wriggled free and got to his feet, he said aloud the very words he feared saying: "I don't know what to do anymore…"

From within his head, Kursed chuckled.

"Decisions, decisions. Here, let me help you."

Horrible screaming began echoing very loudly in Marcus' ears, forcing him to clutch his head and scream in agony. Not only did his body hurt all over, but now his mind ached. All he felt now was pain in every single one of its definitions.

"SHUT UP!" he screamed.

The screaming in his head stopped and he glared at the monstrous Coyote with full-blown anger. He gripped his staff and held it at the ready.

"I have no choice…I have to fight."

Coyote lunged at him again, forcing him to kick her square in the stomach before vaulting over her and jabbing her in the back with his staff. She shrieked and spun around, though not quickly enough to hit Marcus before he could strafe out of the way. In a quick motion, Coyote activated her Repulsor Gauntlets…or wait…had she? It didn't seem like she had been wearing anything on her hands. The claws just seem to sprout from her fingertips and appeared more bone-like than metallic.

One thing was certain: there was no time to think about it as Coyote began slashing at him, more specifically his throat. Marcus slammed his staff into the ground, forcing Coyote to stumble about in the resulting earthquake. Once that was finished, Marcus flipped backward and kicked Coyote in the chin, knocking her off her feet. She growled and bared her teeth at Marcus before getting down on all fours and charging at him again.

"This is like something a couple of BDSM freaks would do in bed!" Marcus mumbled to himself before flipping out of the way.

Coyote stood and began slashing again with Marcus attempting to block every blow. Something he had noticed about her back when she was normal was that while she was physically a twig compared to him, she was much faster than he was, making her very hard to dodge when the two were wrestling on Valentine's Day. Now it was the exact opposite. Even though she was now much easier to dodge since she was being hostile and not thinking clearly, every hit that he blocked caused his bones to rattle (making his cracked ribs ache even more), and it didn't help matters when she slashed again and managed to make a firm cut on his wrist.

Marcus cried out and reeled back again, clutching at his left wrist as it began to pour blood. When he tried to move his wrist, it sent a terrible pain through his arm. Dodging Coyote's next attack, he tore off a piece of his muscle shirt and tied it tightly around the wound to hopefully soak up the blood. Not that it mattered whether he had vandalized his own clothes or not since Coyote's next attack caught his shirt's collar and tore it right off, exposing his sweaty, bloody and bruised torso. She made another slash which he dodged and countered with a punch to the side of her face.

It hurt him more than it hurt her to hit her like that. He thought they had finished fighting maliciously with one another after they had fallen in love all those years ago, but now thanks to Kursed, his worst fears were being realized. He was hurting someone he held dear. He didn't want to do it, but he didn't have a choice. She wasn't giving him a choice.

He performed a palm strike to Coyote's forehead, dazing her long enough for him to grab her around her waist and flip him over his shoulder. He wasn't counting on her tentacles reaching him, though, so he felt nothing short of shock and agony when he found himself slamming into the ground again. This time, he felt his stomach lurch and his head beginning to spin. This sensation got worse when he got to his feet. Coyote rushed forward and kicked him in the stomach, causing him to wretch and vomit before falling on his back again.

"Damn…" he groaned. "What did I do to deserve this…I'm in Hell, aren't I?"

Marcus steadily got to his feet only for Coyote to push him back down with her foot, wrap a tentacle around his neck and bend him backwards. He began to choke and feel his back aching horribly, and the worst part about the whole ordeal was that Coyote was enjoying it. She was enjoying steadily killing the boy she loved…Marcus had come all this way to save her and she wanted to kill him. She wasn't even thinking through all of this. It was just as Chase had said. She was acting only on primal instinct, complete inattentive to what little sanity she may have had left.

Marcus rasped and steadily began to lose consciousness when the grip on his throat miraculously loosened. He felt flat on his face and rolled on his back. Did he dare to get up and try to fight her again?

"Mark…what's going on?"

That voice…Coyote had spoken in her normal voice!

Marcus looked up and saw that Coyote's eyes had gone back to normal. In fact, she used these eyes to look at herself in absolute terror.

"She's turned me into…oh, God…"

Marcus rushed forward and embraced her, and the second she realized what was going on, she returned it with happy tears.

"You came back for me…"

"I'd never leave you behind, Coyote…I love you."  
"I love you tOOAAAAARGH!"

Marcus pulled back and saw Coyote fidgeting uncontrollably before she let out the horrid roar and her eyes shifted back to the demonic state. She pushed Marcus away and performed a roundhouse kick to his head, which he managed to grab in time, though wasn't able to defend himself when her other leg came up and she used her body weight to flip him onto the ground.

"What happened?!" Marcus thought painfully. "She was fine and then all of a sudden…what?!"

Marcus whipped out his staff again at let loose with the Ice Blaster, freezing Coyote's feet to the ground long enough for him to deliver a sharp uppercut to her chin. Coyote got back to her feet, only to twitch uncontrollably again until her eyes returned to normal.

"What's…what's happening to my body?!"

Another twitch.

"KILL HIM! KILL HIM! TAKE HIM TO THE GREAT MOTHER!"

"No! I'm not going to kill him!"

"TAKE HIM TO THE GREAT MOTHER!"

"NO!"

The beast took control again and she slammed her tentacles down on Marcus' shoulders, nearly dislocating one of them when he smashed into the ground. With that, Coyote grabbed his head and shoved it under the water. His vision was cut off as he thrashed about, trying to get loose and succeeding when the better part of Coyote's mind got through.

"No! I love him! I won't do it!" she screamed.

Marcus pulled himself up just as the beast took control again, but he managed to knock it into submission with a punch to the throat. Coyote made an awful rasping noise before her eyes went back to normal.

"Mark…I think I've got it subdued for the moment." she said in a saddened tone.

Marcus wrapped his arms around Coyote's shoulder and leaned in to kiss her, only for her to stop him with her two fingers.

"Looks like I'm blocking the way to the big cheese, huh?" she asked.

Marcus said nothing and grew an expression of shock when he saw what Coyote was doing. She had taken the gun from Marcus' belt , and when he thought the other half had gained control and was about to shoot him, she pressed it into him hand and forced him to press the barrel to her stomach. He realized in absolute horror that the his vision was about to come true.

"No…I can't do that."

"The pain is too unbearable, Marcus…you'll just have to put me out of my misery."

"But what about your family?! What about Wolf, Lori…and Scott?! …what about me?"

"If they were here, they'd want you to do the same. Please, Marcus. Do it before the other part of me starts trying to hurt you again."

"Coyote, please…we can find a cure! We can get you back to normal!"

Then he realized what he had just said was exactly what the vision predicted he would say, and to his dismay, Coyote said exactly what he had heard her say.

"She's infected me beyond the chance of a cure, Mark. You know you don't have a choice. Just do it!"

He couldn't. There was no way he could end the life of someone he loved so dearly. She had her whole life ahead of her and she was asking him to just put an end to it before she even got to live it…and it was all for him.

"…I can't."

"Please, Mark…rid me of this curse once and for all. If anyone is going to do this to me, I'll be happy to know that it's you."

The look in her eyes was pleading him…no, IMPLORING him to carry out this act. The worst part was that deep inside, he knew that her suffering was just going to get worse. Chase was right. There was no cure. She would be like this for the rest of her life.

And so Marcus tensed his grip on the gun…

…and did the unthinkable.

The bullet ripped through Coyote's innards and only a small pained groan escaped from her mouth before she collapsed into Marcus' arms. Marcus himself fell to his knees and cradled her close to his heart, his eyes beginning to fill up with tears to the point of nearly blinding him.

"This can't happen." he whimpered. "I'm the one she wants…I'm supposed to make the sacrifice."

Clinging to what little life she had left, Coyote weakly attempted to reach up to Marcus' face. Marcus gently took her hand and brought it up to his cheek, knowing that this would be the last he would ever feel of her. To his surprise, she smiled.

"It's okay, Mark…" she said in a voice that was barely a whisper. "You freed me. I won't be her proxy anymore."

"What am I going to say to them…your parents. How do I tell them that I…"

She shushed him.  
"They'll understand…no one should have to suffer through the pain that you and I have. I want you to…"

Here she had to take several deep breathes before she could speak again.

"I want you to finish the job. Finish what your mother started…show Kursed that you're not afraid of her anymore."

"No…not without you…"

Her smile grew.

"…y;know…I've always wanted to hear someone say that to me."

She looked up at the night sky and sighed.

"It's beautiful…isn't it? In all honesty, this is just a perfect moment…lying here with you under the stars...just like that night when you…gave me this…"

The necklace still hung around her neck until she reached up with her other hand and gently pulled it off.

"Here…" she said, her voice steadily getting weaker. "Take it…give it to Scott…"

The necklace shimmered in the starlight, and Marcus felt pained taking it from her even though it was what she wanted. He put it in his pocket and immediately brought his hand back to hers. She continued to whisper her pleas to him, her voice now undeniably fading away.

"Tell him I'm sorry…tell my whole family that I love them…and…one more thing…."

Marcus had to listen his best as Coyote brought her hand to his heart. She took in his heartbeat to the best of her ability, knowing it would be the last thing she felt.

"….say hello to the sunrise for me…goodbye."

She kept her eyes fixated on his and smiled once more before closing her eyes, breathing in, and letting out the longest exhale she had ever taken. Marcus' sadness and horror reached its peak when her eyes didn't open again. He felt her heartbeat against his body steadily growing slower and slower until it finally stopped.

"Coyote…Coyote?"

No answer.

"No…no, please! Coyote, don't leave me!"

It was too late. With that, Marcus began to cry, his tears being soaked into Coyote's fur. All the dreams that he had with her…all the happiness he had felt with her…now they were all just memories. Things he would never feel again. He cradled her closer and buried his face in her neck, sobbing even louder. It was useless, though. He knew that no matter how hard he cried, she wasn't coming back.

Coyote Lorraine O'Donnell was dead.

* * *

**_I warned you._**

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare/"Save her..."- _"Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "_Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

_Coyote versus the shadows- _"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson

_The star Lylat- _Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime

_Marcus and Fox/Marcus and Chase- "_Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

_Fox versus Kursed- _"Du Hast" by Rammstein

_Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- _Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)

_The Nightstriker- _"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath

_The death of Commander Dane- _"Mad World" by Gary Jules

_The prisoners of Kew- _Byelomorye Dam from Goldeneye 64

_Escape from Sargasso- _"Hard to See" by Five Finger Death Punch

_Marcus and Wolf versus Master Hand and Crazy Hand- _Final Destination from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

_To Cerinia- "_Laser Cannon Deth Sentence" by Dethklok

_Aileen- _"Working Class Hero" by Green Day (Originally by John Lennon)

_The slaves- _"Forgotten Children" by Tokio Hotel

_Aileen's sorrow- _"Narcissistic Cannibal" by EarlyRise (Originally by Korn and Skrillex)

_Marcus and Aileen- _"Name" by the Goo Goo Dolls

_Aileen versus Aphrodite/Marcus versus Malice- _"This Fire Burns" by Killswitch Engage (suggested by ianagainstcliffhangers. Thanks, man!)

_The river Styx- _"Where the River Flows" by Collective Soul

_Marcus versus Coyote (infected)- _"Mermaids" by Xandria

_Coyote's death- _Laura Palmer's theme from Twin Peaks


	25. 24: He is Not Strong Enough

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

**He Is Not Strong Enough**

"This is all my fault…" Marcus cried. "I never should have brought her here…and now she's gone because of me!"

He had lamented enough within moments of her passing, but holding her like this and knowing that she was dead after he had tried so hard and came so far…not only was it devastating, but more disappointing than anything else in the world. He'd killed monsters, seen his friends suffer, climbed through a mountain and withstood horrible injuries…and it had all been for nothing. The woman he loved was gone...forever.

This realization alone stung Marcus enough, but then Kursed's voice rang out in his head to add dreadful insult to dreadful injury.

"Oh, boo hoo. This is why you're weak, Marcus. You act like she's so special when dozens…hell, HUNDREDS of people die every single day…or was she just the only one out of those who mattered? Because she was with you? Like the universe revolves around you? You brought her into this mess, so I thought it would be fitting if you'd be the one to take her out of it."

He said nothing and simply continued to cradle Coyote's corpse.

"In any case, I have to thank you. You gave me a damn good pre-show, but now it's time for the feature presentation."

The gate separating the pool from the summit slid out of sight. The road to Kursed was now open.

"I'm getting hungry, Marcus…don't keep me waiting any longer."

The voice faded away, leaving Marcus all on his own again. He didn't feel any fear nor any sadness now. All he felt was pure rage. He shut his eyes as his blood pressure steadily began to rise. Once his anger had reached its peak, his eyes shot open, revealing them to have turned red.

"Feature presentation…I'll show you a feature presentation that you'll never forget."

He took once last look at Coyote's body. At least he could take some comfort that she was where Kursed couldn't hurt her now, though it still hurt to know that she was no longer with him and still gave him a reason to take this monster head on.

"Coyote…I swear on my life that I'll avenge you."

Marcus laid her down in the water and stood. Unsheathing his staff, he took a few steps toward the path and then broke into a full-on sprint. His rage had completely consumed him, and just like Coyote had done, he was no longer thinking logically. He didn't care if Kursed was as strong as the Cerinians had foolishly made her. He wanted to hurt her for what she had done to him.

A massive gap in front of Marcus was easily cleared with a spectacular long jump that didn't hinder his speed for even a moment. A protruding stalagmite in front of him was easily destroyed when he smashed his fist through it. His anger had become his strength, but that didn't keep him from subconsciously questioning his actions. How did being angry make him this strong? Would it be enough to take her down?

He didn't know and he didn't care. She would pay. That was all there was to it.

He felt his lungs aching in his chest as he began breathing so heavily that he sounded almost like a feral animal. But he couldn't stop…he WOULDN'T stop. Kursed had to die. She had crossed the line…not that she hadn't numerous times already but if she was beyond redemption before, now she was set back even further if that was possible.

There lay only one more obstacle between Marcus and the summit: a large wall. With no effort at all, he activated his staff's Rocket Boost and shot up to the top, landing perfectly on the ground. The sky in this region of the mountain was roughly the same as it had been before, but flecks of lightning surged between the stars everyone few seconds though no thunder followed it. The clouds that were a brilliant white were now a dark purple. The only thing that was missing was Kursed herself.

Marcus' eyes darted all over. The summit was just a flat rock surface, so there was no possible way he could have missed her.

"Where are you, dammit?!" he growled. "Come out here right now and face me like you've got a spine!"

Then her voice echoed through the air, no longer in Marcus' head.

"So you've come, dear Marcus."

Marcus turned his head, and there she stood. Over six feet in height, billowing violet hair, a leather two-piece outfit that barely covered her up, blood red eyes, and a sickening grin that made him want to tear it right off and put it back on upside-down. The grin turned into a smirk when Marcus simply crouched into a fighting stance.

"Just like that?" Kursed mocked. "You don't want to talk smack to me like you do with every other foe you encounter?"

"I don't want to hear it…I'm going to kill you."

"Really, now? Sounds lovely. Why don't you tell me more?"

Marcus tensed his grip on his staff and gritted his teeth so hard that he could swear one of them cracked.

"You…you made her into your pawn when she did absolutely nothing to hurt you."

"You could see as a sort of reward when you look at it from my perspective."

"How the fuck is raping her and turning her into a mindless beast a reward, you thundercunt?!"

"Yeesh, you sure like to use that word, don't you? But think about it: there was a time when she considered me to be an idol of hers. I simply returned the favour by giving her such unspeakable power."

"Why are you doing this to me...if you wanted my soul, why not just get me in my sleep?!"

"What, and ruin the fun of watching you suffer like the little prick you are?"

Marcus growled in an enraged tone and slammed his staff down. Before he even knew what had happened, Kursed had gracefully flipped over his head and kicked him to the ground. He got up immediately, though did nothing more than point his staff at her to keep her at bay.

"In all honesty, though," she continued. "I was doing something as simple as eliminating a problem."

"A problem?!"  
"Yes. With her gone, now you'll fight twice as hard. Twice the pride, double the fall as they say."

"You'll be the one that falls today. I've still got my whole life ahead of me."

"So did Coyote, but you put a stop to that, didn't you?"

"Shut up…"

"You had her right there begging for death and you gave it to her. Tell me: how does that feel?"

"Shut up!"

"You killed her, Marcus. You killed the girl you loved…the girl you wanted to spend the rest of your life with."

"SHUT UP!"

Marcus rushed forward with a savage roundhouse kick, with Kursed simply grabbing his foot and flipping him head-over-heels with barely any effort. Marcus landed on his feet and prepared his staff yet again.

"So it's to be a path bathed in blood…" Kursed said salaciously. "I like that."

With a twirl of her hands, bladed chains sprouted from her wrists and she whipped them through the air in a seductive dance before holding out her hand.

"Now come, Marcus! Show me the madness that lies within you!"

"I won't show you madness, bitch! I'LL SHOW YOU IN-FUCKIN'-SANITY!

"Funny. I always thought madness and insanity were the same thing."

Marcus roared and ran straight at her even though his better judgment would have told him to wait for her to make the first move. He was far too angry to listen to that now. He was following the old family motto. He trusted his instincts, not his head, and that sadly seemed to be a bad idea when he stabbed and missed. The result was a chain wrapping around his arm and digging its blades into his skin. Blood began pouring out of his arm and he had to try his best not to scream. He couldn't give her the satisfaction of his pain…at least, he thought that until he felt the blades dig deeper, practically puncturing his muscles. He shrieked and Kursed gave a smirk of delight.

"Oh, does it hurt? We're just getting started!" she chuckled, swinging the chain like a whip and slamming Marcus into the ground. "But nonetheless, go ahead if you wish. Scream. Scream louder than you've ever screamed before."

Marcus could swear that the ribs that had been horribly cracked by Malice and Coyote had just splintered. This whole mission had just been a giant endurance match…and he knew deep down in his heart that he was losing. The second he started to pick himself up, Kursed roundhouse-kicked the side of his head and sent him sprawling over again. He rolled to his feet and spat out the small trickle of blood that had leaked into his mouth, only then realizing that there was a huge gash on his forehead. Malice and Coyote had just softened him up. Now Kursed was going to tear him apart!

"Oh, my." she said. "You look tired. I have an idea for you."

In what seemed like a split second, she was standing in front of him with wide and crazed eyes as well as a toothy smile that seemed far too big for her face.

"Go to sleep!" she whispered in a very menacing tone.

Marcus took this oppourtunity took bring his fist up and punch her square in the face, but she didn't even react to it. In fact, he began to feel a pinch on his knuckle before it quickly turned into horrid pain. He yelped and pulled his hand back, letting Kursed's tooth drag along and make the bite she had inflicted on him even worse. She licked her lips, letting his blood soak onto her tongue.

"Mmm…delicious. I wonder how the rest of you will taste."

Marcus panted for a brief moment before flaring his nostrils.

"Come and get it, then."

"Of course. Couldn't have it any other way."

Despite his lovelorn rage, Marcus kept his head and waited for Kursed to make a move rather than rush headlong at her and risk being severely injured (not that he wasn't already). Much to his dismay and growing irritation, she didn't move. She simply stood there smirking away.

"What's wrong, darling? Come. Hit me as hard as you can."

Marcus said nothing.

"You still didn't answer my question." Kursed said. "What was it like to bring dear little Coyote's life to an end? Did she cry? Lord knows YOU did."

He didn't need to be reminded. It had happened only minutes ago. He should have been crying right at that very moment, but he couldn't show that kind of weakness to her. Screaming in front of her was one thing, but crying in front of her was quite another.

"What a shame. You two made such a cute couple…but wouldn't you think she'd be better off living…maybe with someone who could handle who she really was, like Malice."

"How dare you! That wasn't even close to the kind of person she was! You don't know her, you don't know me…hell, you don't even know yourself!"

The anger had taken over Marcus again and he found himself lunging at her full force, slamming his staff down and quaking the ground. Kursed had jumped just in time and landed on Marcus' back, pressing him down with her feet.

"I must know myself enough to pull off a stunt like that, eh?"

She seized Marcus' collarbone and threw him in front of her. He landed on his feet, and the two began to clash. Marcus swung with his staff, resulting in Kursed gripping an end of one chain and pulling it to tighten it. Upon blocking it, she wrapped the chain around the staff and dragged him toward her. He resisted to the best of his ability, but found himself in her embrace…wait, "embrace"?

"Oh, shit!" Marcus thought in panic.

"'Oh, shit', indeed." Kursed chuckled before beginning to squeeze. "Not to worry, Marcus. This is gonna feel good…for me, anyway."

It certainly didn't work wonders for Marcus as he began to feel his ribs crack even more and the air steadily being forced out of his lungs. He rasped for breath and thrashed all about, but Kursed had nothing less than an embrace of steel. Thankfully, Marcus found a flaw in it before any more damage could be done. He slammed his head against Kursed's face, forcing her to loosen her grip and reel backward long enough for Marcus to get loose. Not that it was too surprising, but Kursed began to laugh once this had happened.

"So violent…how delightful."

Marcus had instantly regretted headbutting her, because now his forehead smarted badly. No matter how hard he struck or tried to strike Kursed, it seemed he was just doing more damage to himself. His breathing was starting to grow incredibly strained and it began to sound as though he were panicking…probably because he was. Was there nothing that could hurt this woman?

He flipped backward when she slashed her two chains at him, then took both his weapons in hand and let fly with several rounds of bullets and fireballs. With barely any effort, Kursed contorted into nearly impossible shapes to avoid the projectiles before sending a chain shooting forward, hitting Marcus' chest like a hammer and finally causing part of one of Marcus' ribs to snap. He let out a single pained cry and meekly got to his feet. Now it hurt him to even breathe because every time he did, the broken rib prodded his lung. What didn't help was that this was the area Kursed aimed for with nearly every strike before finally palm-striking Marcus' temple. He screamed again.

The pain was almost unbearable as he fell to the ground yet again. Why couldn't he hurt her? He had been trained by the best teacher he could have ever gotten, he was absolutely fuelled by rage, and he knew that the whole galaxy as well as his own life hung by a steadily breaking thread, and so it begged the question: why was nothing he tried working?

…could it be that…he just wasn't strong enough?

"What's wrong?" Kursed mocked. "I thought we were fighting!"

She seized Marcus by his throat, lifted him high into the air and flung him away from her like a javelin. He spun around in mid-air to make sure he didn't land on his all-but-crushed chest, but it didn't serve to make the impact any less painful. Upon attempting to get up, all that happened was Kursed's fist connecting with the side of his face and sending him sprawling backwards.

"She's dead, Marcus! You killed her! Doesn't that make you want to try at least a little harder?!"

He couldn't try harder. The reason? She wouldn't let him rest long enough to get up, and just when it looked like he was finally about to get back to his feet, she shoved him down with her foot and stomped on his stomach for good measure. For one final attempt at an offensive, Marcus weakly pointed the staff at Kursed's head and prepared to let loose with the Hyper Beam, only for her to rip it out of his hands and toss it aside. He tried the same attempt with the pistol, only for the barrel to give a hollow click and signal he was out of ammo. Worst of all, he had no strength to get up and continue fighting with his fists. He was beaten, scarred, and covered in blood, sweat, and most of all tears.

"I can't…I'm not gonna lose to you…"

"Too bad, Marky boy." Kursed said with a salacious grin. "You lost the second you set foot on this planet."

"I…I promised her…I'd avenge her…you made me kill her."

"I didn't make you do anything. You could have simply left her to live out her life as the animal within her, but no. You just had to put a bullet in her guts, didn't you? Way to shoot her straight to Hell, sweetie. You truly are a hero."

"You tortured her…you made her beg for death…you monster."

Kursed sighed and crouched down in front of Marcus. There was no aggression in her gaze. She simply stared at him sternly. There was no sign of the sadistic and playful attitude she usually carried.

"Do you know what the definition of 'monster' is to the people of this planet, Marcus?"

Marcus said nothing. He was too weak to say anything. All he could do was sit back and listen to what she was about to say.

"According to them, a monster is something or someone that was born unlike all of the other little children, and because I had a soul but not a body when I was young, I was considered a monster. Because I had to leech off of dear little Krystal in order to stay alive…I was just living with how I was born, but did they know that or see that I was suffering? No. They didn't care. They looked down on me…called me a monster…and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, my own mother and father sacrificed their lives just to keep me sealed away. All I could wonder was why. I didn't do anything wrong, so why seal me away? Why not give me my own body so I wouldn't have to leech of my little bitch of a sister for twenty-two fucking years just to make one myself?"

Kursed stood up and looked down at the landscape of Cerinia far below. She frowned.

"So you see, Marcus, I not only hate you…but I hate them, too….I hate everyone. No one was there for me when I needed them, but they'd all gladly flock to Krystal's side because she got a body and I didn't. It was never for power…it was for revenge against all of them…I'm going to take back that little piece of me that you have within you, and then…I'll kill them all and anyone who gets in my way!"

"My team…won't let you…" Marcus wheezed. "You won't kill these people if the rest of Lylat has anything to say about it."

Kursed smirked and then burst into maniacal laughter as though the word had tickled her. She turned back towards him.

"The rest of Lylat? You mean the warmongers that destroyed nations and killed millions of people? The violent scumbags that you've been fighting to protect for the past nine years? I'm eliminating a problem, and thanks to Krystal's gracious offering of the Aparoid Queen's power, I can have my darling bugs wipe them all out."

"With what…the beacons are all gone."

"Are you sure? Why would the other beacons lead here to Cerinia? They couldn't just be leading to me. You didn't stop to think for one second that there might be just one more?"

He hadn't, and thus a feeling of total dread came over Marcus. She had the army to destroy every civilization in the Lylat System starting with her own…now all she needed was the power to lead them.

"Enough talk." Kursed said conclusively, leering down at Marcus with another salacious and revolting smile. "It's time we got straight to the fulfilling of your only decent purpose."

Right away, one of the other visions Marcus had received from the beacons came surging back, and he became afraid of her all over again. He began scrambling away to the best of his ability before he suddenly found the chains from Kursed's wrists surge out of the ground and pin him down. He could do nothing as she got down on all fours like a wild animal, even sounding and looking like one with her feral snarling and voracious expression. When she was within the proper range, she released herself and flattened Marcus against the ground with her body, their faces now only inches apart.

And she said the words that set off the scene Marcus had witnessed.

"How ironic…you're brought down by exactly what you wanted from her…a loving kiss."

"No…no, don't! Stop!"

"Too late…twenty years too late."

Her smile became almost loving, and with that notion, she closed her eyes, planted her lips down on his mouth, and began to inhale. Then came the pain, but this wasn't an ache or even a sharp yet short sting. It was a lasting burn that was surging through his whole body, making for the most painful experience in Marcus' young life. And what did he do?

The only thing he could do: he screamed. No one could hear him with Kursed's gluttonous throat blocking off his airway with almost pleasured groans escaping from her lungs. Everything around Marcus was spinning, and his screams were starting to echo in his ears. The pain steadily got worse and worse to the point where he thought he had cried out "Kill me!".

Then the unexpected happened. Kursed pulled back without finishing the job.

"Don't you dare think I'm sparing you." she whispered as she got to her feet. "I'd just like you to see what you're contributing to."

And then Marcus watched as Kursed's body started changing right in front of him…changing into something horrifying. The white of her eyes faded to black, and her violet hair followed suit. Every single one of her teeth lengthened into gleaming fangs, and her fingernails were now long claws that could scissor someone's throat with ease. She had merely been a nightmare in soul before…now she was every definition of the word.

She looked at Marcus and saw his horrified expression before smiling like he had complimented her.

"Beautiful, isn't it? What just a few little shreds of you can do to make me who I really am…but I want it all. So let me ask this very firmly, sweetie: any last words?"

There came words, but not from him. Kursed turned when she heard footsteps behind her and was surprised to see just who had come to save Marcus.

"Get away from my son, you fucking piece of trash…" growled Krystal before palm-striking Kursed's stomach.

The strike was more powerful than any move Marcus had ever seen from her and sent Kursed flying backward onto her posterior, giving Krystal enough time to get her son loose.

"Mom, she's too strong!" Marcus warned. "You need to…oh, God…"

The pain overtook him and he collapsed. Krystal caught him and gently lowered him down to the ground before pressing her hands to his chest and forehead.

"Heavens above, relinquish his pain!" she said in her native tongue.

And relinquish it did. Marcus felt a strain when the broken rib in his chest steadily reformed with the broken piece, and the lasting burns that Kursed had given him steadily faded away. His body was starting to heal rapidly, but he was still too tired to get up and fight again.

"You have to get help….she's….she's a complete beast."

"You need to rest now, Marcus. Let me handle this."

Krystal left Marcus lying on the ground before turning to the now-standing Kursed, looking more ferocious thanks to her angered expression.

"I wondered when you were going to turn up again, 'sister'." she hissed.

"I won't let you hurt him anymore…this whole thing is my fault. I should have never listened to you all those years ago."

Kursed's fury returned.

"You know what, that's exactly what I thought you'd say. All I wanted to do was help you and be accepted as your sister. That's all I wanted, and what did you say to me?!"

Krystal remembered exactly what she had said: "If I had known there was someone like you lurking inside me, I would have killed myself a long time ago." She knew that was an extreme, but she had meant it…almost.

"Not to mention, do you remember all of the things Sabre said to me? He was a brother to both of us…yet he loved you and not me."

Sabre had probably been Kursed's harshest critic, making it no small wonder why he was the first to be killed when she returned to Cerinia. Her revenge had started with her own brother, and the next phase was her sister.

"None of that matters now." Krystal said solemnly, extending her hand and telekinetically bringing the staff into it.

It felt odd to hold this weapon after being without it for nine years, but she remembered everything she had been through with it. It wouldn't fail her now…it COULDN'T fail her now. Needless to say, Kursed's anger grew when she saw Krystal taking up arms against her.

"And to think I believed we were there for one another." she growled before the chains appeared from her wrists again. "Fine. Draw, 'sister'."

"With pleasure."

With her crazed vengeance and vain trust in her newly restored power fresh in her mind, Kursed made the first move, casting both chains at Krystal's throat. Krystal herself rolled underneath then and quaked the ground, running forward and shooting her leg up at a perfect 90 degree angle to kick Kursed square in the jaw. Much unlike what Marcus had been able to do, this actually knocked Kursed off her feet, though she landed perfectly on her feet regardless of it.

"That was good…for a traitorous bitch."

"Look who's talking…"

They ran at one another and clashed, blocking and countering each other's attacks for minutes on end with neither one seeming to gain the upper hand. They had been born into the same body and they seemed to be negating each other's power despite it making very little sense to Marcus, who was still far too exhausted to get up and try to help. The chains and staff locked into one another and the sisters glared at each other from mere inches away as they struggled to overpower each other.

"You're nothing more than a selfish child, Kursed…you and everyone like you!" Krystal seethed.

"Oh, that's rich. Kursed. Kursed! Mother didn't give me a name so you and the rest of these lowlives came up with a generic and evil-sounding name for me! Just because you had a body and just had to leech off of yours! That sounds fair, right?!"

"It doesn't matter what we thought of you back then! What you are now is a complete abomination!"

"Just because I want compensation for all of the wrongs committed against me? Would anyone come after you with guns blazing if you wanted revenge? Of course not, because the hands of fate gave you a body and made me into THIS!"

Kursed ripped her chains backward and clawed at Krystal's chest, only managing to tear through the shirt she wore without so much as even grazing her body. Underneath, Kursed saw a golden chest piece with white markings all over it. She smirked.

"It's been a while since you've worn that, but what's the point? You're no Cerinian…not anymore." she hissed before the two began exchanging blows yet again.

"No, but I don't need to be. I live a happy life with my husband and child…the sooner you stop trying to interfere with that happiness, the better."

"So it's not for Marcus anymore? It's just for you? Don't you remember how you left them all behind when Andross came to power…and killed them all? Don't you remember the look Sabre gave you when you fled to Sauria like a coward?"

"It was a look of concern. He was the one who told me to flee. He wanted me to live a good and happy life."

"Oh, really?"

Then Krystal began to hear whispers in her head…whispers of someone she knew all too well and would never see again.

"Sister…why?"  
"S…Sabre?!"

Her emotions began to get the better of her, though she continued to fight. Nevertheless, it didn't stop the voice of her lost brother beginning to berate her.

"Mother and Father…they only cared about you. What about me? You left here to die while you ran away and continued to live your life like nothing had happened…"

Krystal began to clutch her head in agony. She felt as though her brain was on fire, and it was steadily starting to burn more and more.

"I hate you…I HATE YOU!" Sabre screamed.  
"No, Brother!" she cried. "Please don't say that!"

At this point, Marcus had finally regained enough of his strength to stand up and rush headlong at Kursed.

"Leave my mother alone!" he hollered.

He couldn't get any closer before Kursed kneed him in the stomach and pushed him back down.

"I'm saving you for dessert…" she said heartlessly.

She turned back to the now defenseless Krystal who was still clutching her head and begging the non-existent Sabre to have mercy.

"And you…you're the main course!"

"Hey! You!"

Kursed rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"Another visitor. Wonderful. So glad you could join us, Fox."

She turned and found herself looking down the twin barrels of a sawed-off shotgun with its owner's index finger on the trigger.

"One barrel's for Mark….and the other one's for me!" Chase shouted before setting the gun off.

Kursed was blown off her feet by the sheer force alone, and the spreading bullets only added more pain to it. Despite Chase shooting her point-blank in the face with one of his specialized weapons, her head was still intact and showed no signs of injury, though she was certainly irritated.

"Oh, and for the record." Chase said, pointing upward. "Fox is up there."

Sure enough, there was Fox piloting the _Arwing II_, locked onto Kursed and ready to fire. Kursed herself smirked, with it steadily escalating into maniacal laughter once Marcus had gotten to his feet and calmly talked Krystal out of her delirious state.

"So, Fox, what's the one-liner this time? Nowhere to run?"

"Of course not." Fox shot back. "You'll teleport away in a few seconds and then we'll have to chase you down all over again."

"Good deduction."

She looked back at Marcus in disgust.

"If you and your backup think you can defeat me, I'd certainly like to see you try. I'll be waiting. In the meantime, I'll unleash the swarm on this world and see just how long you can survive. Don't wait for me to get impatient."

And just like that, she disappeared. Fox landed his ship on the ground and rushed to his son's side.

"What were you thinking going up against her all by yourself?" he said solemnly. "You could have been killed!"

"Killed…"

The words resonated in Marcus' mind and he found himself falling to his knees.

"She's…dead…" he said, the tears steadily returning.

"Not yet." Krystal replied. "We still have to…"

"Not Kursed…Coyote."

"What?!"

"She…she begged me to do it…she wanted the pain to stop…I…I killed her!"

Marcus buried his face in his hands and began to silently cry. Fox and Krystal immediately crouched down to comfort him, but how could they? They loved Coyote almost as much as Marcus did. She was the sweetest girl they had ever met and now…she was gone.

"Is what Kursed said true?" Marcus asked meekly. "Is…is Coyote really going to Hell?"

"No." Fox insisted. "Coyote may have done some bad things in her life, but I'll be damned if anybody would ever send her to Hell. People have done things far worse than her and have still ended their lives as heroes."

"But you can't let that keep you from the reality of our situation." Chase said. "That last beacon needs to be taken down. The whole galaxy is at stake."

Marcus needed to take a moment to both pull himself together and try to recover from the shock that Chase had seemed to shrug of Coyote's death. After all, Chase hadn't been the one who climbed through a whole mountain and suffered severe injuries only to have his hopes dashed. Nevertheless, he stood and nodded.

"Yes…let's make sure the next fight is the last."

* * *

_**Thanks for not sending me any death threats for killing off an arguably fan favourite character. It's much appreciated. **_

_**On an unrelated note, I have a Wii U and play it online. My Nintendo Network ID is gohkmazack if you'd like to drop me a friend request.**_** _Just keep in mind that_ m_y brother has an Xbox Live gamertag under the same name, so if you see that name on Xbox 360, it's not me._**_** ONLY on Wii U is it me. As for the games you might run into me on, here's the list:**_

_Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge_

_Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper_

_Tekken Tag Tournament 2_

_Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate_

_**And I'm just going to say it right now because I know there's some people out there who would wish otherwise, but here you go: Coyote's not coming back...**_

_**...yet.**_

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare/"Save her..."- _"Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "_Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

_Coyote versus the shadows- _"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson

_The star Lylat- _Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime

_Marcus and Fox/Marcus and Chase- "_Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

_Fox versus Kursed- _"Du Hast" by Rammstein

_Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- _Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)

_The Nightstriker- _"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath

_The death of Commander Dane- _"Mad World" by Gary Jules

_The prisoners of Kew- _Byelomorye Dam from Goldeneye 64

_Escape from Sargasso- _"Hard to See" by Five Finger Death Punch

_Marcus and Wolf versus Master Hand and Crazy Hand- _Final Destination from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

_To Cerinia- "_Laser Cannon Deth Sentence" by Dethklok

_Aileen- _"Working Class Hero" by Green Day (Originally by John Lennon)

_The slaves- _"Forgotten Children" by Tokio Hotel

_Aileen's sorrow- _"Narcissistic Cannibal" by EarlyRise (Originally by Korn and Skrillex)

_Marcus and Aileen- _"Name" by the Goo Goo Dolls

_Aileen versus Aphrodite/Marcus versus Malice- _"This Fire Burns" by Killswitch Engage (suggested by ianagainstcliffhangers. Thanks, man!)

_The river Styx- _"Where the River Flows" by Collective Soul

_Marcus versus Coyote (infected)- _"Mermaids" by Xandria

_Coyote's death- _Laura Palmer's theme from Twin Peaks

_Marcus versus Kursed- _"Magia" by Kalafina

_Krystal versus Kursed- _"Everybody's Fool" by Evanescence


	26. 25: Two Worlds, One Family

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

**Two Worlds, One Family**

The last thing Marcus wanted to do when he escaped from the mountain in his father's Arwing was face everyone and tell them what had happened to Coyote, let alone that he was unable to defeat Kursed and was nearly killed in the process, but he saw he'd have to face the music in the worst possible way when they landed and saw everyone waiting there for him. Everyone from the rest of his teammates to the group that he had left behind going into Tartaros to Peppy, Bill, Lucy, and Amanda to Star Wolf…including Wolf and Lori.

"Oh, God…what am I gonna say to them?" he thought with his confidence slowly sinking away. "'Hey, guys! Nice to see you, but guess what? Your daughter's dead!'"

"Mark!" Anna cried cheerfully, rushing headlong towards Marcus and pulling him into a bear-like hug. "You're okay!"

Marcus said nothing, causing Anna to look at him with confusion before seeing the melancholy look on his face.

"Mark? What's wrong?" she asked.

Again, he said nothing. He pushed his way through the crowd and walked towards Wolf and Lori. They looked happy to see that he had made it out alright, but became somewhat unnerved when they saw the look on his face. He stopped in front of them and looked Wolf deep in the eyes. How would he react to hearing the news? What would he do to Marcus?

"…where's Coyote?" he asked.

This was it. Marcus tried his best not to choke on his words, but the memory of what he had done still flashed in his mind and made his tear up all over again.

"I…I'm sorry…there was nothing I could do."

The two stood there in shock for a few moments. Lori was the first one to react, sitting down on the ground and burying her face in her hands as she began to cry. She cried longer and louder than she ever had in her life. Her beloved daughter was gone…and she didn't even get the chance to say good-bye. Bill rushed over to his sister and attempted to comfort her to the best of his abilities while Marcus saw Wolf's hands curl into fists and began shaking with unspeakable fury. Marcus bowed his head and prepared for Wolf to reap his vengeance on him, but it didn't come.

"…what were her last words?" he said, beginning to choke on his own tears.

"…she said to tell you, Lori and Scott that…she loves you."

Then Wolf said exactly what Coyote said he would say.

"I understand…there's no way I can fault you for this. You'd never want to kill her on your own volition."

Then it happened. Though Wolf didn't break down in the same way his wife did, he raised his sleeve to his eyes and let the tears drop like rain. One of the toughest men in the galaxy had just lost something that meant everything to him…and now he was crying over it. Wolf O'Donnell was crying, and it pained Marcus to watch. A child was not supposed to die before their parents, and to see it happen anyway made the parents suffer the worst kind of pain they could ever experience.

That's how it seemed: everyone around him was suffering because Kursed saw them as his weaknesses and was using that against him. But no more. They were here to fight alongside him…even though he knew in his heart that he wasn't worth it.

He laid his hand on Wolf's shoulder.

"We've come this far already. We have to end it before it gets any worse."

Wolf looked into Marcus' eyes with the most determined face he'd ever worn.

"Yes…she'll pay for what she did to you…to your friends…and to my daughter."

The pilots heard marching in the distance, steadily growing louder and louder until they saw just what they needed to see. The Cerinian natives led by Aileen, Hephaestus, and Aphrodite were coming towards them, all of them armed and ready for war by the looks of it. Aileen stopped in front of Marcus.

"Lead us to victory, cousin." she said. "We're ready to take back our home."

Before anything else could happen, Aileen turned her head and met Krystal's gaze. Seeing her aunt for the first time made her feel a strange sensation within her, seeing a female likeness of her father standing right in front of her and not having any words to speak to her. Krystal felt nearly the same. This young girl was all that remained of her dear brother, and she was nothing short of wonderful. Before they knew it, they found themselves standing within arm's length of one another. They said nothing, but after staring at one another long enough, smiles formed across their faces and they embraced.

"So Marcus isn't the only family I have left…" Aileen sighed.

"Your family is all those you love, not just those related to you by blood."

"Yeah…I've kind of figured that out on my own after being with him and the others for the past few days."

Peter jumped down from one of the trees after surveying the area long enough with his binoculars.

"Mates…there's this huge tower-like thing a few dozen miles from here that's spewing out Aparoids." he announced. "And…it's alive."

"What do you mean 'alive'?" Slippy asked.

"I mean it's…never mind. You'll know it when we see it."

Everyone crowded around Marcus and waited for him to give their orders, but what they were not aware of was that his self-doubt had come back at full force. Why did they all put his trust in him like this? It couldn't be because of his psychic powers. Krystal had proven not even ten minutes ago that she was stronger than he was.

Then he stopped and thought about it. Kursed had affected the lives of almost everyone here. Every single one of them wanted to take her down before she could do anymore damage, and they wanted him (the one who had been affected the most) to lead them to victory. It wasn't fate that he would lead them…it was responsibility.

He exhaled.

"Okay…" he said, looking around at everyone. "We made this thing…all of us. We all have to work together to destroy it."

"Orders, Mark?" Damalgo asked.

"Listen up, everyone! It's do-or-die time! Our primary objective is to get the beacon and keep as many Aparoids from getting off the planet as possible! Cerinians, you'll follow Aileen and come in from the south. Peppy, you take half of our pilots around and flank the east. I'll take the other half and flank the west. We'll leave the north to the _Great Fox._"

Chase dialled his communicator right away.

"ROB, bring the _Great Fox _down."

Right before the bewildered eyes of the natives, the massive mothership came gracefully soaring down into the atmosphere from far away and began moving towards the direction Peter had located the beacon.

"We've got to establish relations with Corneria…" Hephaestus mumbled in amazement. "I mean….wow."

"LET'S MOVE OUT!" Marcus shouted.

The pilots hopped into their vehicles and started the engines immediately. Marcus had noticed Wolf and Lori get into the same vehicle and Wolf slamming the ignition as hard as he could. Reaching out with his mind, he heard exactly what he thought Wolf would be thinking: "I'm gonna skin that bitch alive…"

The numerous ships raised themselves high off the ground., sending an intense gust rifling through the trees.

"Dad, Chase, Pete, Slippy, Leon, Oikonny, Lucy, Anne! You're with me! The rest of you are with Peppy!" Marcus ordered. "Let's move out!"

Aileen faced in the direction of the beacon and raised her blades, letting out a loud battle cry that was echoed by the Cerinians that followed her. They drew their weapons and the ground seemed to rumble beneath their feet as they charged headlong, following the pilots as closely as they could.

For Marcus, it felt good to sit in the sit of his beloved Arwing again. He was sick of walking all over the place, getting scrapes and bruises all over him when he kept slamming into the ground, and he was just sick of the ground in general. Flying seemed to relieve some of this stress, but what he couldn't shake off were the thoughts of all the other pilots when he decided to sense them. What he heard made him even more determined to get this job done.

Krystal: "I can't believe she'd do this…I mean, sure, we didn't exactly treat her right but…to think she'd sink to this level."

Wolf: "Coyote…my little baby girl…I never should have let her go. She didn't deserve to go this early…"

Falco: "This is just too much…once this is over, I'm done for good."

The thought from Falco was what cemented Marcus' thoughts on the subject. He had dwelled on it enough already, but it simply couldn't be addressed enough. The life of a Star Fox pilot was a never-ending cycle of violence and pain…and it needed to stop.

"This is it, folks!" Peppy barked. "Aparoids incoming! We're flanking east!"

The massive bugs began surging up out of the trees with the full intention of killing anything that tried to prevent them from getting off the planet, some swooping down to the ground while the rest split off into separate groups to take down both teams. Marcus gripped his steering control as hard as he could and jammed it to the right, slipping out of the way just in time for Fox to blast a trio of Aparoids down with a charged shot.

"Alright! It's go-time, Kursed!" Marcus growled under his breath. "Let's bring the rain!"

Marcus and Anna locked onto a nearby group coming up from the ground and fired away with a barrage of lasers, slicing through them all with barely any effort before barrel-rolling when a few came too close. Clearly Anna was furious at the death of her cousin, and now she wanted to watch Kursed suffer just as much as Marcus did. Fitting, really. She had been tortured, and now she wanted to torture the one who had done the torturing to her. She'd earned it after all of the disasters she'd been through.

Down on the ground, the Cerinians and Aparoids clashed. Leading the way through them, Aileen and Hephaestus slashed, ripping the Aparoids apart once their subjects followed suit. A rather large one jumped on top of Hephaestus' back, only for Aphrodite to ram a spear through its head and vault it off him.

"When did you learn how to fight like that, Sister?" asked Hephaestus in bewilderment.

"I've done a lot of things in the time you've been in a statue, Brother…not all of them things I should be proud of."

Hephaestus smirked.

"In any case, you're certainly putting your new skills to good use. Keep it up!"

Marcus' group approached a mountain poking up from the forest with a single tunnel leading through it.

"Everyone form up!" Marcus ordered. "Single file!"

The ships organized themselves one after the other and proceeded directly into the tunnel, but right as they did so, they saw something that wasn't what they were hoping for: the tunnel walls were lined with dozens of Aparoids!

"It's a trap!" shouted Leon.

"Quick!" shouted Peppy from the other end. "Do a barrel roll!"

They followed the order right as the Aparoids lunged at them, and thankfully their progress was anything but impeded from this. The Aparoids were crushed against the sides of the wall the second the nine ships rolled, sending revolting ooze spraying onto their blast shields.

"Oh, come on!" Peter groaned. "I practically had my bloody skin burned off and now I got bug guts all over my window! This is like rush hour in a back alley, for Christ's sake!"

"You think that's gross?" Fox scoffed. "You should've seen the kind of shit I had to go through on Sauria!"

They shot out the backside of the mountain as it began to rain, lightning striking Tartaros from far away with thunder soon following. What cemented this moment as tense, however, was the tower-like structure that Marcus could just barely see over the horizon. He couldn't quite make it out from here, but as he sensed the environment, he could tell that this was their target…but what in the world did Peter mean by it being alive?!

"Jeez, bogies behind me…" Slippy grumbled, zipping ahead and trying to shake his pursuers. "Did Falco ever tell you guys I was the ultimate basket case?"

"He said you were a basket case, but he never said anything about being the ultimate one." Chase replied.

"Oh, great. I suppose that's me, then." spat Oikonny.

Fox switched to Multi-Lock, targeted all of Slippy's pursuers, and then let fly with several charged shots.

"Whew! Thanks, Fox. Even when we're retired from this, you're still saving my ass, huh?"

"Can't be helped, I suppose."

Anna booted up her map of the region and examined the planet surface for any other obstructions.

"Ah, shit…" she growled.

"What's wrong, Anne?" asked Chase.

"There's a valley up ahead that's apparently prone to rock slides. Everyone watch your six!"

The ships jetted into the valley, and as if on cue, giant rocks began tumbling down towards them. They boosted, braked, somersaulted. Every possible thing that could be done to avoid the falling rocks was done, and yet that didn't stop Lucy from being struck from above by a particularly large one. She let out a yelp, but managed to keep flying.

"Are you okay, Mom?!" called Anna.

"Yeah, I'm fine…but you weren't kidding, Annie. Watching my six probably would have been a good idea right about then."

They flew further and were just about to leave the valley when Marcus heard a voice echo out from nowhere. Not Kursed's voice, but…Coyote's.

"Dad…he killed me. Marcus murdered me…why are you siding with him?"

She was speaking to Wolf, and from what Marcus could hear in his mind, Wolf wasn't taking to this mental violation too well.

"He did what he had to do…he didn't want to do it."

"You don't know that…for all you know, he probably ripped me limb from limb and then laughed about it…think. He wouldn't befriend me just like that. His father hates you…HE hates you, and what would be the best way to get you to be at your most vulnerable?"

Marcus was about to jump in and demand the voice to stop, but then he heard Wolf smirk.

"Nice try, Kursed, but my daughter would never say a thing like that. I'm her father. I knew her a hell of a lot better than you did."

Kursed scoffed.

"It was a good try, but trust me: I can feel the anger welling up inside you. You want to just strangle me to death in those nasty claws of yours, don't you?"

"Exactly. That would be why I'm flying towards your beacon and about to destroy it."

"Hm. Fine. Go down in a fiery explosion for all I care."

"That's just it, though. You don't."

Marcus smirked.

"Even a living incarnation of evil can't trip up the Space Cowboy…especially not when he's mad as hell."

The nine ships swerved around a group of trees and blasted through another group of Aparoids, the final blockade keeping them from the beacon. Once they came close enough, they saw precisely what Peter had meant by it being alive.

The tower was about five hundred feet in height. There were Aparoids crawling over it and spewing out from small holes, but then came the revolting part. The entire tower seemed to be pulsating and was wrapped in something that looked a lot like rotting beige flesh. And to think that wasn't even the last of it, because right as they came within sniping distance, several long appendages burrowed their way out of the tower. Most of them were long arms with either pincers or sickles attached, but the center one possessed a cavernous mouth lined with teeth and let out an ear-splitting roar.

Peppy's team rounded the corner on the west side and the Cerinians arrived at the tower's base from the south. All that remained to arrive for the offensive was the _Great Fox_.

"ROB, where the hell are you?!" Chase shouted.

"On route to destination." ROB responded. "Estimated time for arrival: five minutes."

"You've gotta be fuckin' kidding…"

Marcus wasn't exactly happy about it, either, but they had not time to waste.

"We'll just have to damage it as much as we can until then. Activate all-range mode!"

Thus, they engaged the tower and the Aparoids guarding it. The mouth at the ships that got close enough to it, though didn't manage to hit any of them before they could get out of the way. The Aparoids that had been clinging to the tower jumped off and began flying after their attackers, revealing large red eyes dotted all about the tower and making it even more disgusting in appearance.

"Anybody got a weak spot for us?!" Fox demanded.

Krystal was the first to reply, quickly sensing the tower and desperately searching for any sort of weak spot. She did manage to find one, but it wasn't going to be easy to get to.

"There's something inside it that should bring it down if we destroy it." she said. "We just need to get it to come out."

"Maybe it's those eyes all over it." said Amanda. "…I mean, really. Something like that is practically guaranteed to do something if you hit it hard enough."

"That settles that, then! We're looking at about twenty in total!" barked Peppy. "Everybody gouge out those eyes!"

They boosted inward, swerving around the sickles and pincers and flying straight for the eyes. The combined efforts of Fox, Wolf and Panther took down four of the eyes with relative ease. Another roar escaped from the fang-lined mouth, indicating that Amanda's hunch had been fairly accurate.

"Nice shooting, pup." Wolf remarked.

"You, too…and what did I say about calling me that?" Fox replied, growing slightly irritated at the name Wolf had used.

"Sorry. It's a force of habit now. I'll never be able to stop saying it."

With the Aparoids on the ground dealt with, the Cerinians proceeded to climb up the tower to reach the eyes. When a small group of Aparoids attempted to lunge in and send them tumbling off, Krystal and Marcus reached out telepathically, seized the Aparoids, and bashed them together until they all fell limp and tumbled to the ground. Aileen looked over her shoulder as she climbed to see Marcus and Krystal swerve back around to join the other pilots after spending those few precious moments to save her and her followers. She smiled. They really were her family.

"Corneria and Cerinia…the siblings that once fought one another are now fighting together."

"Goddammit, Slippy, are you really getting chased again?!" Falco shouted.

"Hold your water for a second, Falco." Slippy shot back. "I've got an idea."

He boosted forward and started gliding up the side of the tower. The Aparoids on his tail steadily began to grow in number as he ascended, and continued to do so until he passed a small cluster of the eyes high above.

"Bombs away, bug boys!" he shouted, slamming a button to his side.

With that, three smart bombs dropped out the back of his ship, detonating upon making contact with the Aparoids and taking not only them down but also three of the eyes in a massive explosion.

"Okay, so you finally did something smart with bogies on your tail other than call for help." Falco grumbled. "Big deal, buddy."

"Hey, cut me some slack, will ya? I'm getting old here!"

The bickering was quick broken by a loud scream when one of the pincers seized Anna in its grasp and was about to bring in a sickle for the killing blow. Thankfully, Chase swerved in quickly enough to stun the sickle with a charged shot. Marcus turned his attention to Aileen and sent her a mental signal: "Throw it." For a moment, she had no idea what this meant, but upon seeing Chase, she got the picture. Next, Marcus sent a mental signal to Chase: "Eject." Chase looked over at Marcus like the latter was horribly drunk.

"Are you insane?!" he sputtered. "I can see you and Anne doing stuff like that, but…"

"Don't worry." Marcus said calmly. "If you fall too far, I'll catch you."

Chase was nearly certain that Marcus was relying far too heavily on his psychic abilities, but he gave it a shot. He slammed the eject button and shot up into the air. Once he had done so, Aileen threw one of her swords to him like a boomerang. Flipping around in the air a few times, Chase caught it and made one heavy slash to slice through the pincer arm holding Anna, releasing the sword afterwards and letting it fall back down into the grip of its owner while Chase fell perfectly into his ship's cockpit.

"Well, I'll be damned!" Chase said with a laugh of bewilderment. "It worked!"

"Of course it worked!" Anna cheered. "You grew a spine, that's for sure!"

"Yeah…though I can thoroughly guarantee I ain't doing a thing like that ever again. I think I'm gonna be sick…"

Leon dove downward and engaged his Multi-Lock, locking onto three eyes before his ship shook violently. An Aparoid had landed on him with them full intention of tearing his engine apart. Thankfully, Falco shot by right at that moment and blasted the giant bug off just in time.

"Thanks, Lombardi…guess I owe you one, eh?" Leon asked.

"Don't sweat it. We'll have a drink later. My treat…just don't go stabbing me when I'm not lookin'."

Leon laughed right after he let fly with the charged shots and took out the eyes he had been targeting.

"It's a deal."

Peppy somersaulted over the Aparoids behind him and took down two more eyes with Bill swerving up and blasting away not only another eye, but the Aparoids on his father-in-law's tail.

"Good work, Bill." Peppy called.

"No problem, Peppy."

"Tell me something, though: did you do that because I'm your commanding officer, or because I'm your wife's father?"

"Does it matter? You've been more of a father to me than anyone else I can think of."

Peppy smiled.

"You've got no idea how good it feels to hear that…when we get back home, I've got a surprise for you."

"Can't wait, but we've got a job to do right now."

Suddenly, there came an unfortunate revelation: the mouth suddenly fired a barrage of laser beams, slicing the wings off of Wolf and Marcus's ships.

"Son of a bitch…" Wolf growled. "Looks like we're sticking to the ground from here. Hold on, Lori!"

The two piloted the ships down to the ground and exited the second they touched down.

"How are your sniping skills, Marcus?" asked Wolf.

"Umm…not bad, I suppose. I've never really had a chance to test it too much."

Once he had heard "not bad", Wolf dug a rifle out of the back of his ship and tossed it to him.

"That's a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle. Not quite like the rifles the new kids on the block prefer to use. It fires bullets that can easily pierce through someone's skull. Only downside is it needs to be cocked between each shot."

"Okay…but what about you and Lori?"

"Don't you worry about us. We've shot goons in the head from miles away."

Marcus nodded and looked through the scope, aiming perfectly and managing to hit an Aparoid chasing Krystal. He cocked the gun and aimed for a nearby eye, taking it down with one shot. Wolf and Lori aimed at the Aparoids following Anna and Bill, taking them down flawlessly before taking care of another eye. Aileen and Hephaestus had managed to climb high enough up the tower and were now hanging on directly in front of another eye.

"This one's for my father!" Aileen shouted.  
"As is this one for mine!" Hephaestus followed.

Thus, they both stabbed their weapons deep into the eye, rendering it useless. Much to their surprise, Isaac and Aphrodite suddenly scurried up ahead of them.

"Hey, where the hell are you two going?!" Aileen hollered.

"We've got an idea! Hold your water!" Isaac shouted back.

With that, the two jumped onto the nearby sickle arm and put their plan into motion. Firstly, Isaac cupped his hands together so Aphrodite could step on them. Once she did, he vaulted her high into the air and she readied her spear. Isaac drew his gun and fired a bullet directly at her spear, and once it struck the metal surface, the force of the collision propelled her into the air, high enough that she was able to stab an eye.

"Damn…good work, guys." said Aileen.

"Careful planning can lead to a fantastic show, Aileen." said Aphrodite with a satisfied smirk as she and Isaac resumed their safe position on the tower. "…or a fatal injury, but we managed to avoid that this time."

"Piece a' shit, GET OFF ME!" Amanda yelled when an Aparoid landed on her ship and she began swerving all about to try and shake it off.

Fortunately for her, Katt swerved in just at that moment and launched the Aparoid off with a quick barrel roll.

"You need anything else, just call." she said.

"Thanks…where's your baby?"

"Oh, that woman Persephone is taking care of her. Couldn't risk having her in the ship in case she gets brain damage from barrel rolling…which I'm surprised hasn't happened to anyone yet."

The two women thus shot forward and took down two more eyes each. More lasers flew from the mouth with the pilots struggling to dodge them.

"Goddammit, ROB, hurry the fuck up!" Damalgo yelled into the communicator.

"Hey, hey. L-let's go to space…LET'S GO TO SPACE! …by this, I mean yelling at me will not solve anything. It is illogical and unnecessary, and therefore I firmly believe you should cease it."

"It's fine, Al." Chase spoke up. "We've only got two eyes left, anyway…scratch that. Zero. Nice shootin', Mark."

"Thanks…this gun kicks ass, by the way. Why they don't make them anymore is beyond me."

With all twenty eyes destroyed, the weak spot that Krystal had sensed made itself visible. Snaking out of the mouth came a stalk with a red pulsating eye attached to it. Once it had located its targets, it began firing lasers at a breakneck pace.

"Good Lord, that thing is gonna…" Fox started before looking over. "Jesus, about time!"

The _Great Fox_ entered the area from the north.

"Alright, ROB." Marcus instructed. "Clean this place. Leave no Aparoid alive."

"Affirmative."

The _Great Fox_ began firing its cannons, ripping through the giant bugs like butter, though that still didn't stop the giant eye from firing a beam at the mothership and actually managing to damage it. ROB let out an R2-D2 like shriek from his end of the communicator and the Cerinians climbed back down from the tower to get to a safer range.

"Ah, crap!" Peppy grumbled. "There's no way we're going to able to get close enough with that kind of firepower."

Marcus gritted his teeth.

"Not to worry. I can handle this."

He drew his staff, sank to a crouch and concentrated. He let his internal energy flow through his body, and once it had built up enough, he let out a wondrous battle cry and fired the Hyper Beam. The massive laser connected and completely obliterated its target. The mouth roared once more and the multiple appendages thrashed about before finally going limp. With it all said and done, the tower slowly turned a shade of gray before crumbling away like dust.

"Fuck yeah!" Chase cheered. "We did it!"

"Hey, easy with the language there, sport." Slippy laughed.

Marcus smiled. At least now there was no risk of the Aparoids getting any further out…but that still left the Big Cheese herself.

As if on cue, Marcus turned and found her standing right there with a smirk on her face, still in that hideous form she had obtained from leeching him. All the ships landed, and once every single solider was behind Marcus, they trained their weapons on her. She said nothing, and as she raised her hands, Marcus prepared to lunge at her. That is, until she performed her intended action: she began slowly and obnoxiously applauding them.

"Well done." she said. "Well done, indeed. I have to say you all have shown some incredible resilience…especially the planet that betrayed me. Twice, in fact. That really takes some guts, you know."

"It's over, Sister." Krystal growled as she came up behind Marcus. "There are no more beacons left in the galaxy. It's just you now."

"Perhaps."

She gently raised her hand and, to everyone's astonishment, aimed it at the _Great Fox._

"Just me is a lot, though."

Then the unthinkable happened: she clenched her fist together and the _Great Fox_'s rocket thrusters exploded! The ship came plummeting down to the ground in a fiery crash, with ROB screaming "Goodbye, cruel world!" as he went down.

"ROB!" Marcus cried.

"Pity, but he was a pretty useless bucket of bolts, anyway. I mean, come on. Did he really help all out that much?"

"Whether or not he did, he was our friend…and you're about to learn what that means!"

"Oh, I'm so GAAAACCK!"

All of a sudden, a small gray blur had jumped out of Wolf's ship and onto Kursed's back, beginning to strangle her to the best of its ability with its scrawny arms.

"YOU!" Scott screamed. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

"Scott!" Wolf cried. "Damn it, he must have stowed away in the cargo hold!"

Enraged, Kursed wrenched Scott off of her back and dangled him in front of her by his neck. Scott bucked about to the best of his ability to try and get loose, but he simply wasn't strong enough.  
"You conceited little…" she growled before realizing what she was holding and smiling evilly. "Oh, my! You must Coyote's little brother."

"Let my baby go!" Lori screamed, dashing forward.

Kursed raised her hand and a ring of fire circled around her and Scott. Lori stumbled backward almost instantly, the tears returning to her eyes.

"No…please…don't hurt him!"

Kursed brought two fingers to Scott's neck and gently pressed inward. Scott fell unconscious, and Kursed this began to cradle him in the crook of her arm.

"So adorable."

She looked at Lori with a malicious smile.

"He's my baby now." she said before running a single finger through the air.

Upon doing this, a small silver line appeared with the space around being distorted abnormally and Kursed stepped inside it with a coy wave goodbye.

"Wait…" Anna said, pondering before looking up in horror. "No…she's…she's taking him into the Echo!"

Everyone began to panic, but with the ring of fire around Kursed, nothing could be done.

"No…I already lost my daughter…" Wolf began to cry. "I can't lose my son, too!"

Marcus let out an enraged roar and blasted the ring of fire with his staff's Ice Blaster.

"YOU'RE NOT TAKING HIM, TOO, YOU BITCH!" he hollered.

And thus, Marcus did yet another unthinkable act…

…he dove headlong into the Echo.

* * *

**_And that guarantees another emotional chapter in the future._**

**_Sorry that this took so long to upload, but believe it or not, I actually have a decent excuse this time. Being that it's June, it's almost exam time up here in Canada, so therefore I've been really caught up with both culminating activities and studying for exams. It's especially important because I'm in my senior year in high school, so if I don't pass these exams, I won't graduate. Sorry, but that's just how life works. I need to put school before everything else, otherwise I won't be able to get a good job in future._**

**_Unfortunately, because of this, I'm guaranteeing that there isn't going to be another chapter for at least two weeks. So until then, please be__ patient._**

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare/"Save her..."- _"Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "_Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

_Coyote versus the shadows- _"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson

_The star Lylat- _Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime

_Marcus and Fox/Marcus and Chase- "_Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

_Fox versus Kursed- _"Du Hast" by Rammstein

_Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- _Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)

_The Nightstriker- _"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath

_The death of Commander Dane- _"Mad World" by Gary Jules

_The prisoners of Kew- _Byelomorye Dam from Goldeneye 64

_Escape from Sargasso- _"Hard to See" by Five Finger Death Punch

_Marcus and Wolf versus Master Hand and Crazy Hand- _Final Destination from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

_To Cerinia- "_Laser Cannon Deth Sentence" by Dethklok

_Aileen- _"Working Class Hero" by Green Day (Originally by John Lennon)

_The slaves- _"Forgotten Children" by Tokio Hotel

_Aileen's sorrow- _"Narcissistic Cannibal" by EarlyRise (Originally by Korn and Skrillex)

_Marcus and Aileen- _"Name" by the Goo Goo Dolls

_Aileen versus Aphrodite/Marcus versus Malice- _"This Fire Burns" by Killswitch Engage (suggested by ianagainstcliffhangers. Thanks, man!)

_The river Styx- _"Where the River Flows" by Collective Soul

_Marcus versus Coyote (infected)- _"Mermaids" by Xandria

_Coyote's death- _Laura Palmer's theme from Twin Peaks

_Marcus versus Kursed- _"Magia" by Kalafina

_Krystal versus Kursed- _"Everybody's Fool" by Evanescence

_Engaging the final beacon- _"I Will Not Bow" by Breaking Benjamin


	27. 26: The Echo

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

**The Echo**

Rage had consumed Marcus yet again. He hadn't been thinking clearly when he acted, but he didn't care. If he couldn't save Coyote, he would at least save her little brother. While Coyote may have had her whole life ahead of her, Scott's had only just begun. He was three years old…was Kursed really going to kill a three-year old child?

Of course she was. She'd do anything to make Marcus believe that he had nothing left to fight for. That was it, though: he had everything to fight for. His family, his friends, his home, and the people that were suffering on Cerinia. There was another thing…he wasn't on Cerinia anymore. He wasn't even in reality anymore. He was in, as Anna had stated, an infinite plane of existence where time and space bent back on themselves, and it certainly looked like it.

He felt as though he were falling far and fast, though he felt no rush of air around him. He stopped falling so suddenly that he collapsed onto his face from the sudden force. Just like the tunnel leading to where he had fought Coyote, he felt nothing underneath his feet even though he wasn't falling any further, and even though he felt nothing under his feet, it still hurt when he collapsed. Then again, he was used to falling now. After all, he'd performed a free fall from miles above Corneria with no support whatsoever, though that time he had his grandfather's spirit to save him. Now there was no one. He was alone just as he had been in Tartaros, but now he knew that no one would be able to come to help him.

He was in another dimension.

It didn't detract from the task at hand. He began running. He wasn't sure where he was running, and Kursed could be anywhere since this was an infinite plane of existence. That said, he was still half-Cerinian, so he sensed the environment to try and find any clue as to where to go. Thankfully, he found one: a translucent trail leading in the direction that he happened to be running in, thus causing him to run faster. Fast enough to make it feel like his lungs were going to give out. Anything that could have made Marcus run fast popped into his mind. A hungry monster chasing him, the floor collapsing underneath his feet, anything. As long as imagining it made him run faster, he used it.

"Scott…please hold on. I'm coming!"

In the second he had said that, the ground began to shift about, forming into rolling hills that moved as Marcus ran over them. He had the sudden thought that this was Kursed's will: to imbalance him long enough that it would be too late for him to reach his goal. Regardless of that, he pressed onward, stumbling about clumsily as he went. No matter how far he thought he was getting, the ground (or whatever it was beneath his feet) rolled out from underneath him and tripped him, preventing him from making any progress. Not only was he begin to grow more and more frustrated, he was beginning to grow very tired and unsure of whether or not he could even make it in time.

"Goddammit…I gotta keep going…I can't….NO!"

At that moment, he had tripped over his own feet and went tumbling down a slope that had suddenly appeared from nowhere, falling into a pit with visible walls and a bottom. He slammed into the ground at full force, injuring what felt like every part of his body. After laying there uselessly for a moment, he stood up and began running up the opposite slope. Much to his dismay, it was simply too steep for him to keep his balance.

He realized this too late and remained in denial to it, pumping his legs as fast as he could. As was to be expected, he slipped onto his stomach and slid back down into the pit. He ran up and attempted to plant his staff into the wall when all it did was pass through thin air, forcing him to tumble down yet again. In his last effort, he activated the staff's Rocket Booster. While it seemed to work for a moment, Kursed's will stretched even to where he was now as it sputtered and died the second it looked like he was about to emerge from the pit. He fell back down screaming, slamming his back against the ground. Everything hurt. His body, his pride…and now his heart. He sat up and looked all around him. The walls were too steep for him to run up, they weren't solid enough for him to plant his staff into them, and the Rocket Booster refused to work anymore.

He was trapped. He had no way to get out.

"I'm stuck down here…I can't get out." Marcus said to himself, his voice softly echoing throughout the air, as did the steadily growing shakiness.

The heavy thoughts on his mind intensified. Wolf's daughter was dead because of him, his mother's evil twin was growing strong enough to destroy the entire galaxy, and now the brother of the woman he loved was about to die when he had so much left to live for. The worst part about it? There was nothing he could do to stop it.

"This is it…she won…."

The tears began streaming and Marcus pulled his knees up under him, hugging himself as he began to quietly cry.

"I give up…"

The three words he never wanted to hear himself say. They slipped past his lips with no hesitation, and how could they not? He tried so hard, came so far, and meant so well. In the end, however, none of that mattered. It was over…he had lost.

"Malice was right…" he sobbed. "The righteous don't always win out in the end…she stayed one step ahead of me this whole time and just when it looked like I was getting somewhere, I ended up back in the dark again and again and again…now look at me. I'm done for…I swore I'd protect Coyote…and I failed…now her brother is going to die all because I didn't step in and keep Coyote from coming here in the first place…this is all my fault!"

He felt as though he were drowning in his own tears. His eyes had become too watery for him to see past himself, but what was there to see? His heart felt heavier than it had ever felt before. Not only did Scott have so much left to live for, but so did Marcus himself. How could Kursed just take all that away from him by trapping him here in the Echo? Who did she think she was?

"I never should have brought her to this planet…I never should have let her join the team…I should have just sent her home when I ahd the chance. Hell, I never….I never should have even met her. At least then she'd still be alive and I wouldn't be here…waiting for Kursed to come and finish me off. All my life I've been helping the people I love when they needed me…but what about now? …now when I need them…"

Everything around him felt cold like death was slowly starting to wrap itself around him, but the worst part about it was he didn't want to do anything to stop it. If he couldn't save a three-year old child, he couldn't do anything…even pick himself up off the ground. Now because of that thought, he began sadly contemplating everything.

Isaac had said that people saw him as a hero whether he knew it or not. But the truth was (to him, at least) that he wasn't. He was just some teenager who everyone admired going off to war. He didn't help people or rebuild civilizations. He killed people and blew things to smithereens.

He was not a hero. If he couldn't save a child that meant so much to him, that proved it. He was a lonely child just lying there and waiting to die.

Marcus had wiped away the tears, only to see that beneath the heavy fog that circled along the ground, there was a strange mass that he couldn't quite make out. He may have been distraught, but not so much that he couldn't stand and walk over to it to examine it. Upon kneeling down and brushing the fog away, what he found was a surprising sight.

The mass was a humanoid and feminine figure lying on the ground with her eyes closed. She wore no trace of clothing, though there were no indents in her skin, and speaking of her skin, it was black as midnight and wavering like a cloud. All at once, Marcus realized just who this was and allowed a name to slip from his mouth.

"Shadow."

Now he could see clear as day that Persephone had been telling the truth. His maternal grandmother had been pulled back into the Echo after she had sacrificed her mortal body to protect Krystal. Marcus reached out and touched her face. Her skin was as cold as ice, but instead of reeling back, Marcus immediately issued the incantation that he had used three times before. The Purifying Blast emitted from his hand, and Shadow's body glowed a bright blue before the light ceased. For a moment, it looked like it had been ineffective, but Shadow's chest rose and fell as she began breathing again and her eyes quickly opened, revealing them to be completely violet. She sat up slowly and looked about before her eyes settled on Marcus.

"…who are you?" she asked.

Marcus was nervous to talk to this otherworldly being, but this nervousness faded when he remembered that this was his grandmother, as well as the only person around that he could talk to.

"Marcus James McCloud…I was named after your husband." he said.

"My husband…yes…the two of us gave our lives for our daughter…my children! Are they well?!"

"…I'm afraid that…Sabre is dead."

Shadow looked utterly devastated. She was finally awake after God knew how long, and her son had died and gone to Heaven before she could say goodbye. It was just as it had been with Wolf: a child was not supposed to die before their parents, and to see it happen anyway was the greatest pain anyone could ever know.

Still, she hadn't given up hope for her family.

"And what of Krystal?" she asked. "Is she safe…is she alright?"

"She is alive and well…I'm her son."

"Her…son? Then you are…my grandson?"

Without another word, she gently reached out with both hands and felt Marcus' face. The icy coldness of her skin was gone, proven by the warmth of her touch. As she felt Marcus' soft cheeks, Shadow's mouth stretched into a small smile.

"You look so much like your grandfather…but I must ask something. Why are you here?"

The sadness Marcus had felt just moments ago returned full force, as did the tears. He tried his best not to cry in front of his grandmother, but there was no stopping his emotions.

"The girl I love…she died because of me and Kursed brought her little brother here…I wanted to save him, but…I'm trapped down here."

The second Kursed was mentioned, Shadow's expression turned grim.

"My second daughter…so Krystal released her from her body."

"Yeah, and…now she's going to tear everything apart and I can't stop her."

"And why is that?"

"I…I don't know…I guess I'm just not strong enough….I know why she's doing all these things now, but…why take away an innocent child just to get to me?"

Shadow growled to herself.

"So she is still a selfish child even after being sealed away as a punishment…I suppose I can only call it a lust for vengeance. As for why she wants to harm you, perhaps it is just to harm Krystal in turn. She despises all life because it despised her. If put in the same place, do you not think you would perhaps do the same?"

Marcus thought about it for a moment before answering.

"Well…no…I'd try to prove to them that I'm not something that they need to…oh my God!"

"The solution presents itself."

With the final words not making it past his lips, Marcus had singlehandedly reached the greatest epiphany in his young life. He wouldn't stoop to Kursed's level. He'd do what an adult would do: he'd be the bigger man and work at improving himself. Kursed was nothing more than a selfish child that thought it was right about everything.

"So that's it…but does that even matter? Child or not, she's too…"

Shadow laid a hand on her grandson's shoulder and looked deep into his eyes before he could protest any further. Marcus had always wondered where Krystal got her mystifying eyes from, and with Shadow seeming to stare into his soul and mind, he confirmed that this was definitely the mother of his own mother.

"The only limits are those we make ourselves, Marcus." she said softly. "You could not defeat her because you were not pushed to your greatest abilities."

"But…I fought her so hard. I was so angry that I felt I could tear a mountain in two, and yet she still beat me! I tried so hard and I failed!"

"That may be, but you must realize that the only true failure is when you stop trying. You cannot give up until you truly have no strength left to fight."

"…so what do I do?"

Shadow smiled again and took his hand.

"Try again. Help will always be given to the ones who deserve and need it."

The words suddenly empowered Marcus. He had much left to fight for, and the last thing he was going to do was let Kursed get away with murder again. Even more empowering was that Shadow was clinging Marcus against her, and the two were steadily rising up out of the pit. Marcus' brow furrowed with determination.

"Alright. Let's go save Scott! Lead the way!"

* * *

"Wake up, Scott…wake up."

"Mmmhmmmm….Coyote…is that you?"

Scott's words were met with a light giggle. His eyes opened and he took a moment to observe his surroundings. Where was he? How did he get here? …and why was Kursed cradling him in her arms?!

Scott let out a cry of panic and tried to get loose, but Kursed held him in a tight embrace, looking almost lovingly into his eyes.

"Hello, Scott." she whispered. "You're so adorable."

"L-let me go!" he cried. "Where's my mom and dad?!"

"Oh, don't worry about them. They can't take care of you like I can!"  
"LET ME GO RIGHT NOW!"

"And let you miss out on an oppourtunity to see your sister again? I don't think so."

"My…sister?"

Kursed smiled and gently stroked Scott's cheek. For some odd reason, even though this woman was incredibly frightening in both attitude and appearance, her eyes were calm and soothing…the eyes of a loving mother.

"Yes, dear Scott. She's here. I can take you to her. I know you said some things to her that you wish you could take back, and I want to give you the chance to say you're sorry. Do you want that?"

"…yeah! Please! Take me to her!"

"Of course…but can I tell you a secret first?"  
"Umm…o-okay…"

Kursed edged in closer to Scott's face…close enough to kiss.

"You're so brave and strong…and cute, too. I don't have any children of my own. So once we find your sister, how about the two of you stay here with me…forever?"

Scott wanted no part in this. This woman frightened him, and the thought of spending eternity with her made him feel like life would become meaningless, but what he couldn't get over was that her eyes seemed to entrance him into thinking it was a worthy investment. Yes…she would protect him and Coyote…she'd love them until the day they died…she would…

Kursed rasped for a brief moment before she was thrown backward, Scott being pulled out of her arms at the same time. Scott took a moment to regain his grip on reality before looking up into Marcus' face.

"Mark?!"  
"It's okay, Scott. I'm taking you home."

"But that woman said…"  
"It doesn't matter what she said to you. She's a liar and she would've killed you if she had the chance."

"But…why?"

"…that's just how she is."

Kursed growled and stood up in fury.

"Right when I'm about to have a scrumptious little meal, too, you little..."

The ground between Marcus and Kursed cracked away and separated them far enough that Kursed couldn't simply jump over to him. It was then Marcus noticed Shadow's eyes glowing as she waved her hand about.

"I was created with this world." she said monotonously before conjuring up a portal leading out near to where Marcus was standing. "It is mine to control and destroy if I see fit…and I would say that Lylat has had enough of it."

Marcus nodded and proceeded running toward the portal with Scott hugged against him.

"Mark…is Coyote really dead?" Scott asked.

"Yes, Scott…I'm sorry."

"It's okay…she's with God now, right?"

"Yeah. She's safe with Him."

He had to remind himself to ask someone to hit him for almost saying "I sure as hell hope so." There was no way he could say that to a child. It was enough that Scott had to be put through this after losing his sister, but why break his heart?

"No…she's with God." he assured himself. "She was a good girl. She deserves that kind of peace."

Marcus nearly tripped once the ground began to shake and even started to crumble away. Shadow hadn't been kidding. She was destroying the Echo. It had caused enough problems as it was, so now it was time it met its end.

Kursed, on the other hand, looked at Shadow in shock.

"What…Mother?!" she said in surprise. "You show up after this long and then just take away the one thing that will make me as strong as you?!"

Shadow sighed and looked at Kursed in disdain.

"Power has blinded you, Kursed…you are no daughter of mine."

With that, she began gliding after Marcus as he and Scott dashed through the portal back to Cerinia. As the Echo began to crumble away into a black void, Kursed stood there in complete shock, but that shock quickly turned to anger.

"How dare you…" she growled, clenching her fists so hard that her veins began to become visible under her skin. "Everyone has turned against me…fine! Fuck them all! I'll kill them all!"

Marcus thankfully had left the Echo just in time, because as Kursed's rage reached its peak, she mutated even further.

"I WILL MAKE YOU ALL BURN!"

* * *

_**Okay, so I managed to get one more chapter out before exams started, but now I'm guaranteeing it for real. They're probably won't be another chapter until next month. But don't worry. It'll be worth it because...announcer?**_

_**"FINAL BATTLE! FIGHT!"**_

_**Ah, you're excited now.**_

_**Why don't we talk about something that happened rather recently: Nintendo's E3 presentation...in all honesty, all I can say is that WE'RE IN FOR A GOOD YEAR NEXT YEAR, GAMERS! Mario Kart 8, Bayonetta 2, and best of all a new Super Smash Bros.! **_

_**While I'm on the subject of Smash Bros., let's talk about the new characters. Villager from Animal Crossing: Cool, but probably not someone I'm going to play as a lot. Wii Fit Trainer: LOL! Actually looks pretty fun to play as. Mega Man: FUCK YEAH!**_

_**Now here's a question: who are the top five Nintendo characters that you want to see in the new game, as well as a potential guest? For Nintendo characters, I'd say Zael from The Last Story, Ghirahim from Skyward Sword, Little Mac from Punch-Out, and our lovely blue vixen Krystal. That, and I'd like to see Roy make a comeback. **_

_**As for the guest...Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden. Hell yeah, baby. =)**_

**UPDATE June 27th**

_**"Woohoo! I'm a college man! I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T...I mean S-M-A-R-T!"**_

_**The point being that now that I'm on summer break, the only thing getting in the way of me working on the story is procrastination. Let's get to it!**_

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare/"Save her..."- _"Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "_Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

_Coyote versus the shadows- _"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson

_The star Lylat- _Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime

_Marcus and Fox/Marcus and Chase- "_Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

_Fox versus Kursed- _"Du Hast" by Rammstein

_Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- _Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)

_The Nightstriker- _"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath

_The death of Commander Dane- _"Mad World" by Gary Jules

_The prisoners of Kew- _Byelomorye Dam from Goldeneye 64

_Escape from Sargasso- _"Hard to See" by Five Finger Death Punch

_Marcus and Wolf versus Master Hand and Crazy Hand- _Final Destination from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

_To Cerinia- "_Laser Cannon Deth Sentence" by Dethklok

_Aileen- _"Working Class Hero" by Green Day (Originally by John Lennon)

_The slaves- _"Forgotten Children" by Tokio Hotel

_Aileen's sorrow- _"Narcissistic Cannibal" by EarlyRise (Originally by Korn and Skrillex)

_Marcus and Aileen- _"Name" by the Goo Goo Dolls

_Aileen versus Aphrodite/Marcus versus Malice- _"This Fire Burns" by Killswitch Engage (suggested by ianagainstcliffhangers. Thanks, man!)

_The river Styx- _"Where the River Flows" by Collective Soul

_Marcus versus Coyote (infected)- _"Mermaids" by Xandria

_Coyote's death- _Laura Palmer's theme from Twin Peaks

_Marcus versus Kursed- _"Magia" by Kalafina

_Krystal versus Kursed- _"Everybody's Fool" by Evanescence

_Engaging the final beacon- _"I Will Not Bow" by Breaking Benjamin

_"I give up..."- _"Leaving Hope" by Nine Inch Nails

_Escape from the Echo- _"Awake and Alive" by Skillet (another one suggested by ianagainstcliffhangers. Thanks again, man!)


	28. 27: A Dawn Long Overdue

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

**A Dawn Long Overdue**

Never had Marcus been happier to be back on Cerinia, the irony being that he had practically gone insane and had considered suicide just a few hours ago. The moment he felt himself fall through the gate out of the Echo, he rolled forward so Scott wouldn't slam his back on the ground by accident. Both of them let out small yelps of surprise when they touched solid ground, yet breathed sighs of relief soon afterwards when they realized they were safe, particularly when Lori and Wolf came running up to them.

"SCOTT!" Lori cried, grabbing her son and hugging him as tight as she could. "YOU'RE ALIVE!"

Marcus got to his knees panting, completely winded from running as fast as he could with Scott tucked in his arms, though he was helped to his feet by Fox and Wolf, the latter of which was becoming more emotional than he had been in years.

"Marcus…" he said in a shaky tone, a single tear dripping from his eye. "There is no way I'll ever be able to thank you enough for this."

Marcus sucked in another breath and smiled at Wolf.

"I'd never leave a member of my family to die…"

"Your family?"

"Yeah…he may not realize it, but Scott…he's like a brother to me…by that logic, I have many brothers and sisters. You're all family to me. I wouldn't even think of abandoning any of you…even if you wanted me to."

At that moment, Marcus noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Aileen and the Cerinians were digging about in the wreckage on the _Great Fox_. For a moment, no one was sure of what they were doing, but then they heard Aphrodite shout something out: "I found him!"

Much to everyone's surprise and joy, they pulled ROB out of the wreck, and believe it or not, he was someone miraculously intact. Granted, his arm was missing, but he was certainly not too damaged to function. The team ran to his side almost immediately, but before they could question how he managed to survive, something else popped up out of the wreckage.

"Nightmare!" Anna exclaimed.

Indeed, the little green blob drifted towards them and looked at ROB…and then proceeded to do something that both amazed them and made them nearly burst out laughing.

"Dad! I'm in space!" he said in a high-pitched voice.

ROB's head suddenly swiveled toward Nightmare and responded.

"I'm proud of you, son."

"Dad, are you space?!"

"Yes. Now we are a family again."

It took literally three seconds for Chase to figure out what had happened.

"That's it! Nightmare must have enveloped ROB and reduced the shock of the crash at the last second!"

"So he saved ROB's life…" Anna said. "Jeez, did that suit really make him that hostile?"

Marcus' spirits were lifted just long enough for him to feel like everything was going to be alright. ROB was okay despite him being a crash that wrecked the mothership that the team prided themselves on (though the same thing had happened during the first Aparoid Invasion and another _Great Fox_ was built in less than six months). Scott was safe back in his mother's arms. Everyone that had fought alongside him to take down the last beacon was alive…

Then he remembered. Kursed wasn't dead yet. Even worse was that right as he thought about this, his head gave a painful throb, causing him to cry out in pain and fall face first onto the ground. Before anyone could rush to help him, he got to his knees and thrust out his hand in warning.

"NO! GET BACK!" he screamed.

Perfect timing, for a clawed hand reached out from nowhere, seized his neck, and heaved him up off the ground before throwing him a good distance away from his comrades.

"Damn you…all of you!" Kursed growled before stepping menacingly out of thin air.

Her appearance before had been frightening enough, but now she looked like something that had crawled out of the depths of Hell itself. Her pupils were gone, leaving only black voids where her eyes were. Her black hair had lengthened considerably, now being long enough to scrape the ground underneath her. Her fur had become fiery red, and speaking of fire, it was wavering as though it had been set ablaze. She had grown about two feet in height, and spikes protruded from her elbows and knees.

"Oh my God…" Krystal said in disbelief. "This…this is a nightmare!"

Marcus wasted no time in getting to his feet.

"Everyone!" he shouted. "Let's…"

"NOT ON YOUR FUCKING LIFE!" Kursed bellowed.

She slammed her fist into the ground, and the same sort of barrier that kept anyone but Marcus from entering Tartaros had reared up from nowhere. Marcus was sealed within this massive space, and Kursed was going to see to it that he didn't escape.

"I've had enough of you, Marcus. I've had enough of your resistance and your so-called heroics. It's time for you to lie down and die."

Marcus gritted his teeth and drew his staff in petty defiance.

"Never!"

"Hm. Fine. I'll kill you with my bare hands!"

"Go ahead and try! I'm not gonna give up!"

Kursed let out an enraged roar before flying towards Marcus at full speed, ramming into him and hauling him high into the air. He wasted no time in stabbing her wrist, loosening her grip and allowing him to drop down to the ground. However, his nemesis had anticipated this: she dropped down as fast as a bullet and slammed into the ground, sending forth a shockwave that knocked Marcus off his feet.

"Don't you see, Marcus? You can't win. You've finally met your match!"

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch, bitch!"

"Delaying the inevitable as always. It was cute before, but now it's the most annoying thing I've ever seen."

"I have a knack for that."

"Not anymore."

She slammed her fist into the ground, leaving Marcus to stumble about for a moment before having to leap away once he saw the ground begin to heave under his feet. Then it split open, parts of it rearing up while other sunk downward. All that matted was that the ground were Marcus had been standing was now irregular and covered in giant fissures, one of which Marcus happened to be dangling into. Numbers upon numbers of his allies wanted to run to him and help him, but there was just no way to do so. This was an adversary he'd have to face alone, and so far, it looked like he was the clear loser.

Marcus quickly edged himself along the crevice once Kursed began slashing at him with her claws. One strong hit would force him to lose his grip and fall, though even the small slash that cut his finger nearly made him release the ground he dangled from. He finally managed to pull himself up and slip between her legs, but that proved fruitless when her tail wrapped around his ankle and hauled him up to her face.

"You never learn, do you? Nothing you try will work."

She slashed his face, forcing a scream of pain out of him.

"No weakness you can find on me can be exploited!"

She punched him in the stomach and tossed him over her shoulder before telepathically grabbing him and slamming him into the ground, making him scream again when the pain signalled that his shoulder had been dislocated. He crawled away for a brief moment and slammed his shoulder against the ground, thankfully resetting it though not without a great deal of pain. That was all he felt. Pain. Every single part of his body hurt. Maybe Kursed was right. Maybe beating her just wasn't possible.

"Tell me, Marcus: why would you come all this way when you knew you couldn't beat me? It's your fault Coyote is dead, so why bother coming to save people that you don't even know?"

Marcus weakly stood up and spat a drop of blood out of the corner of his mouth. Clutching his chest, he looked up panting with eyes of pure rage.

"I never turn my back on my family…they were suffering because of you, thinking that you were a goddess. Well, you're not."

He gritted his teeth and lunged at her.

"YOU'RE A HAG!"

Marcus' attack didn't connect, though his eyes bugged out when something else connected with him: Kursed's claws stabbing into his chest. The screams that came from Anna, Krystal and Aileen only made him more certain of the blow Kursed had just dealt. She pulled back and left him to stumble to his knees, his blood flowing from the wound almost like a waterfall.

"It's okay…" he rasped. "She needs to work on her aim."

In truth, he was relieved that she had missed his heart. Regardless of that, even though the wound wasn't fatal, it still burned. Kursed scoffed.

"I guess making you suffer is good foreplay whether it's accidental or not, but I'm getting bored."

"You? Bored? Gimme a break."

"You're fighting for a lost cause, Marcus. I've said it once and I'll say it again and again until you get it."

She cast her arm forward, shooting up the ground underneath Marcus' feet and sending him flying into the air. In less than a second, she had followed him up and squeezed him against her.

"YOU! CAN'T! DEFEAT ME!" she bellowed.

With that, she dealt what she and many others were sure would be a finishing blow: she zipped back to the ground headfirst with Marcus in tow, slamming his head against the ground. The loud crack that echoed throughout the air made everyone almost sure that Marcus' neck had been snapped, let alone crushed, yet when Kursed released him onto the ground, the unthinkable happened: he managed to get himself on his hands and knees. Even Kursed was taken aback.

"You're still alive?! You're joking! You have gotta be kidding me!"

Regardless of whether he was alive or dead, Marcus' head was killing him. He was almost certain that Kursed had successfully given him a concussion from how dizzy he was. Then came something that gave him the strength to keep trying.

"C'mon, Mark! Get up!" Chase yelled.

"You can't give in now! Keep going!" shouted Scott.

"Fight, Marcus! FIGHT!" hollered Krystal.

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" everyone chanted.

"Get real, you fools." Kursed grumbled. "You don't honestly think he's going to get up after…good grief, he's actually doing it!"

The more everyone around him begged him to keep fighting, the more he was able to pull himself together. His head began to stop spinning and he was able to stand up, but what solidified it was something that the others hadn't seen. Time had seemed to stop in Marcus' mind, leaving no sound except for a single voice that echoed softly in his ears.

"Mark…can you hear me?"

"Coyote?"

"You can beat her, Mark. I know it seems like you don't stand a chance against her, but you have the strength to keep fighting."

"She's right, though…it's my fault that you're dead."

"Maybe, maybe not. That's not important now."

"It is. I may have been able to save your little brother, but now…she's going to kill me and then everyone else on this planet."

"And why is it that you say that? Because as a member of Star Fox, you're paid to kill people and blow things up?"

"Well…yeah."

"Yes. That may be what you do, but ask yourself. Why do you do it?"

Marcus thought it over, and it became clear. He thought back to the time when he had defeated Andross. He had seen the people of Corneria all cheering him and his friends. The looks on their faces had made Marcus not even think of questioning the humanity behind the act he had carried out. They looked so happy to know that they were safe…that they would live to see another day and many more after that. And even those small acts of altruism he committed got him warm and loving smiles.

"Now you see it." Coyote continued. "You don't do those things because you're paid to. You do them because they're the right thing to do, and doing them with you was what made it all the more wonderful for me"

"Yes…we were stronger when we fought together."

"And we still can be."

Marcus' spirits lifted, and he found the strength to stand once again upon hearing the words Coyote stated before her voice faded away.

"Kursed chose to be a monster, Mark. You chose to be a hero. Now let's take her down…together as one."

Kursed growled.

"No matter. You won't be standing for long!"

Then came yet another unbelievable act: Marcus didn't respond. As he felt an unbelievable sense of strength and courage well up within him, he looked at his nemesis and smirked.

"What, did you suddenly level with me in thinking that your death is a good thing?" Kursed scoffed.

"Nope. Not even close."

"Then what's so funny?!"

Marcus planted his hands on his hips and looked up at the sky, taking in a deep breath and letting it out softly. Kursed was about to step forward and strike him when he looked down at her with most determined expression he had ever given. Even more bewildering was that his eye colour had shifted to that of the purest white.

"I can do this Super Saiyan-type bullshit, too!"

He bent down in a sumo-like stance and let out a loud roar like one you would hear in the anime he referenced above, and thus, he began to change before everyone's eyes. Blinding sparks surged from his skin and a brilliant white light enveloped him, brightening everything around him and forcing everyone including Kursed to shield their eyes. No one knew what Marcus was doing, not even the Cerinians who were used to these kinds of magical occurrences.

Then the light faded.

"Oh….my…God!"

That was the only thought on anyone's mind because, just as he had said, Marcus had transformed in a manner similar to Kursed. His eyes were still as white as snow, but what was vastly different was his fur which had gone from blue and white to gold and white. Much like how Kursed's fur was wavering as though it were on fire, Marcus' looked similar. He, however, had something Kursed didn't have: when he opened his mouth and spoke, his voice sounded like his own and another had mixed.

"Well, isn't this an efficient turn of events." he mocked.

Kursed recognized the other voice. It was the voice of that ingrate O'Donnell girl.

"Even in the afterlife she commits herself to this rotten piece of trash…"

She clenched her fists.

"So you decide to take advantage of her after you let her go through so much pain and then shot her?"

Marcus said nothing and made a lunge at her. Much to her surprise, he was able to yank her high into the air and uppercut her chin to successfully injure her. Kursed herself was absolutely stunned when she found that Marcus had actually managed to hurt her…badly! Did Coyote give him that power? No…it wasn't just Coyote. It was everyone. Everyone that had never been there for her was now cheering Marcus on…telling him to keep fighting so he could kill her and take away the revenge she rightfully deserved...

"I won't fucking have it!"

Kursed let out another loud roar before shooting down at Marcus like a meteor. Up came another shock of pain when Marcus jetted up at her a delivered a right cross to her face, followed up with him grabbing her head and slamming it down on his knee.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" Marcus demanded. "Now you know how you treated me. Ironic, eh?"

"I don't see what the irony is."

She grasped his throat and began squeezing as hard as she could, fully intent on snapping his neck with one hand if it came down to that.

"You're going to die!"

"Yeah, you're right…I'm gonna die, my parents are gonna die, everyone down on the ground there is gonna die…"

Kursed screamed in pain when Marcus suddenly jabbed his fingers into her eyes. She released him almost instantly and rubbed the pained feeling out before looking at Marcus with a venomous glare. Marcus himself smirked once again.

"Just not today." he finished.

Marcus cracked his knuckles and neck before drawing his staff, now glowing a brilliant blue.

"This is our final confrontation, Kursed. No more mind games, no more exploiting weaknesses. Let's just go at it and see who wins."

Kursed snarled and unleashed the chains from her wrists, which now flamed just like her fur did.

"One on one, mano a mano. The way you like it, I presume."

"For these kinds of fights? Sure. Why not?"

Though he was overflowing with confidence on the outside thanks to his newfound power, inside was where Marcus housed his doubt and anxiousness. This was easily the most powerful opponent he had ever faced, even more powerful than Andross despite Kursed not even being close to that size and notoriety. There was one catch, though: he hadn't been nearly as angry back then as he was now. Kursed hadn't just hurt Marcus. She'd hurt everyone on her homeworld, and for that she would pay the ultimate price.

"I've been building up this kind of power for years, Marcus. You've only just gotten it now. You won't beat me…you CAN'T beat me."

"No. I can. You're saying that because you're afraid that I can."

"You really think you're better than me? Using this sort of power to fulfill your selfish goal?"

"I'm not fighting you for me."

Marcus gestured his hand toward the massive crowd below.

"I'm fighting for them. The people who have been forced to unfairly suffer at your hands. The lives you've bastardized and ruined…your own family who you turned your back on."

"They are not my family. I turned my back on them because they were ignorant to my needs…much like who you were ignorant to sweet little…"

Marcus knew what she was going to say before she even said it, and it made him angry. Not because she had delivered a heavy insult to him, but because he was tired of hearing her say it. At that moment, inspiring words that were said to him not along ago flashed through his mind, strengthening him even more as he said it when he remembered it was from the father of the spirit that was assisting him.

"A great man who you hurt more than you can imagine once said that tormenting someone is a low blow that shows you have no sense of honour or respect for anyone but yourself. I'm sick of hearing you try to make me vulnerable by shoving Coyote's death on me. She'll always be with me in spirit, and there's nothing you can do that'll ever change that."

With all that said, he flew toward her with his staff raised high.

"NOW SHUT UP AND FIGHT!"

Kursed blocked the blow, but the shock of it was enough to drive her backward, giving Marcus enough time to fire several rounds of the Fire Blaster. She deflected every single shot with simple flicks of her wrists, following it up by sending the chains shooting right at Marcus, who effortlessly flew around them despite them acting on their own accord and whipping at him when they had an opening. When they finally did catch him, he was quick to block them with his staff before zipping forward and jabbing the staff's spear end into Kursed's shoulder. She promptly ripped it out, kicked him away and threw it back at him like a javelin, though it returned to his hand a moment later.

"Let's spice things up a bit." she snarled. "How does taking this little scuffle to the air sound?"

"Nice. Fuckin' beautiful, really."

"Good. Then let's have at it!"

The two blasted up into the air, flying freely without any sort of assistance. They made use of this ability by constantly surging towards one another and slashing with their weapons, filling their air with metallic clashes and their own grunts and yells. After fruitless efforts of trying to injure each other in this manner, they clashed in mid-air and went plummeting toward the ground, each delivering heavy punches to each other's faces while at the same time trying to make sure the other would hit the ground before they would. Eventually, however, Marcus gained the upper hand and was able to piledrive Kursed into the ground.

"You snotty son of a bitch!"  
"So I guess you're not claiming to be my mother anymore since you're clearly wouldn't call yourself a bitch…even though you are one."

"So that's how it is, eh? How about a little game of dead man's volley, then?"

"Sure. I'm up for a little game. Spares me from having this fight lack a fun factor."

"Oh, but you've never played it like this before."

Kursed jumped backward and suspended herself in mid-air, a buildup of energy appearing from her hands. To the audience's horror, thousands of spheres of energy appeared around Marcus, all of them massive and glowing dark red.

"Let's play. Can you survive?"

"Let's find out."

Kursed roared and cast her hands forward, causing the spheres to jet towards Marcus at an almost inhuman speed. The second Kursed made that roar, Marcus got down on one knee and planted his staff into the ground, building a translucent force field around his body. Thanks to this, every single one of the spheres was deflected when they made contact save for the last one, for which Marcus dropped the force field and swung his staff like a baseball bat, knocking it back towards Kursed and slamming into her so hard that it sent her careening backward.

"It's not dead man's volley unless the thrower can get one or two volleys in. Now how about I return the favour?"

A buildup of energy emerged on the end of Marcus' staff and he let loose with the Hyper Beam. Kursed surprisingly managed to catch it in her hands and resist, but its strength was quickly starting to take its toll on her. Marcus continued to push, having to hold the staff as tight as he could to make sure it didn't go flying out of his hands. Kursed continued to push as well, using just about every bit of strength she had to resist Marcus' attack, though she fared no better than anything else that had been attacked with the Hyper Beam. Her strength soon gave out as she was forced backwards through the barrier that she herself had created, causing it dissipate when its creator was no longer within it.

"Alright, more space to fight. I like it." Marcus said.

Kursed recovered from the blow quickly and unleashed her chains yet again, lunging at Marcus and engaging in another clash. Attack, block, counterattack. Attack, block, counterattack. It went on for several minutes with either one getting crafty at one point or another by strafing away from the attack or attempting a kick or punch. Suddenly, Kursed brought her fist up and punched Marcus sky-high, following it up by grasping his neck.

"Space, eh? Let's go there together, then. We'll see who can last longer."

With that, she flew up towards the sky, going higher and higher until they parted through the haze and Marcus saw the shimmering stars above him. Then came the choking feeling of a lack of air. Apparently the power of having Coyote's spirit fuse with his didn't gift him with the ability to breathe in Outer Space, so he'd need to act quickly or he'd suffocate.

"Well, dear Marcus," Kursed asked sadistically. "Any last words?"

"Why do they always ask that?" Marcus thought sourly.

He gave her a look of pure venom and seized the hand that grasped his throat. He began squeezing so tightly that it felt as though he had the full intention of crushing Kursed's wrist, though once her grip had weakened enough, he steadily pried the hand off of him.

"Yippy-kai-yay, motherfucker!" he shouted before headbutting her downward with such a force that she had no means to fly back up.

Unfortunately, she didn't need one.

"Referencing action heroes, eh? Well, here's another one for you!"

Her chain lashed out and wrapped itself around Marcus' neck.

"GET OVER HERE!"

With a yank of the chain, Marcus was in her grasp once again as the two went freefalling back to Cerinia's surface, punching and backhanding each other the whole way. Below the haze, the audience could steadily see a fiery meteor growing larger and larger as it came closer to them before it suddenly zipped through and slammed into the ground, creating a massive crater that violently shook the earth and even knocked some of them off their feet.

Considering that they were both powered up beyond anything that anyone else could comprehend, it was safe to say that they were both certainly alive, but Marcus had received the blunt of the blow this time. When Kursed stood up and levitated out of the crater, Marcus was left lying there and groaning with the dizziness of the previous head injury returning twofold.

"Okay…that hurt…"

Kursed smirked.

"Oh, what a shame. I was hoping you would have broken your neck."

"Take a little more effort than that, I suppose."

"Yeah? You mean like this?"

Just when it seemed like Kursed was about to charge up another attack and finish Marcus off, a rain of bullets came surging into her. They didn't pierce her, of course, but they still battered against her and cause her to cry out in pain.

"What the…?!" she growled.

Turning towards the trajectory of the bullets, she found that everybody on the ground was shooting at her, whether it was with guns or bows that the Cerinians used.

"You can't do this!" Anna shouted. "We won't let you!"

"You've pushed us enough and now we're pushing back!" Aileen yelled.

"Ain't nobody taken down my mates!" Peter hollered. "Not nobody, not no how!"

"You mess with one of us, you mess with ALL of us!" finished Falco.

Marcus smiled brightly.

"They'll stick by me until the end…these people aren't just my friends. They're my family."

Kursed gritted her teeth and was about to attack the people that continued to fire upon her, but every time she tried, another projectile would come up and hit her face or hands or whatever it was she was trying to use to attack. Just like any other annoying thing would have accomplished, however, she quickly got sick of it.

"ENOUGH!" she yelled before dropping down to the ground like a meteor.

The ground shook violently and knocked everyone off their feet, jostling the weapons out of their hands. Kursed drew one of the guns toward her and aimed at the closest target: Fox.

"My, how the tables have turned, eh, Foxy dear?"

Before she could pull the trigger, Marcus came up behind her.

"Something's turning, alright, but it ain't the tables."

With that, he grabbed the sides of Kursed's head and spun it around so quickly that it sent a loud snap through the air. Kursed's face had a look of shock when she found that her head had been twisted around to an impossible degree, but while it had injured her, it had far from placed her in a state of near-death. Her body spun around and set the head back in the proper place.

"Clever. I give you credit for getting somewhat sadistic with your futile attempts of trying to kill me."

In retaliation, Kursed seized the back of Marcus' neck with several tentacles exploding from her back to hold him in place while she planted her palm against his chest.

"But I've said it once and I'll say it again: you can't beat me!"

The energy built up at a breakneck speed and let loose, knocking practically all the air out of Marcus' lungs and sending him hurtling back down into the crater.

"Shit…" he growled. "What do I do?"

More words of wisdom flashed through his mind, these ones coming from another great man that had carried an incredible act out right after he had said them.

"A true hero will give up everything to save anything."

Marcus meekly smiled. Was he really willing to do that? He was only nineteen. He could have a whole life ahead of him. Why waste it all just to bring down a monster? Then he remembered: there were people both here on this planet and all throughout the Lylat System that were suffering far worse than he ever could. It would be worth it just for someone to tell them they'd live to see another day.

He nodded. His life wasn't worth millions of others.

"What do you say, Coyote? Think we're ready to meet up in Heaven?"

Kursed shot down into the crater and yanked the weakened Marcus high into the sky so that everyone could see them.

"You've prolonged your life enough, Marcus. You took the greatest piece of me that I ever had. Now it's time that you gave it back."

Marcus smirked in the way that made her irritated. She struck him across the face.

"Stop smirking, you little prick!"

Marcus did exactly that, but when he opened his eyes and looked at her, it made her realize that he knew something she didn't.

"You really think you can live with it? Fine! Then take it!"

And thus, in front of everyone, Marcus grasped Kursed's shoulders and let loose.

"TAKE IT ALL!"

A blinding flash was released from Marcus' body and began flowing into Kursed as he continued to yell into the sky with his eyes tightly shut. Kursed initially had a surprised look, but it quickly turned to a look of ecstasy. He had given up.

"Yes…YES! FINALLY! IT'S MINE!" she cried out in triumph.

On the ground, every single one of Marcus' comrades looked on in disbelief.

"No…h-how could he…he's giving her what she wants!" Aileen cried. "We're all doomed!"

That was what everyone thought…until Chase spoke up.

"It's too early for her to celebrate. Look!"

Kursed's expression of satisfaction and glee had suddenly shifted to panic and dread. Every second Marcus clung on to her and released his life into her, painful throbs surged throughout her body and she could steadily feel herself becoming weaker. She looked all about her body to try and find what was wrong, but then she saw it: her body was reverting back to its original state.

"No…no, this can't be happening!" she said in panic.

She looked back at Marcus with an expression of something no one ever thought she'd have: fear. Everyone was confused. How could this be happening? Then Damalgo spoke.

"And so we see the penalty of being born without a body." he said. "The body that Kursed created for herself wasn't built to hold two souls like Krystal's was, and because Marcus is pushing all his power into her…yes! He's negating her power and making her mortal!"

Kursed had managed to telepathically hear this conclusion of his (albeit very poorly since this ability was quickly fading away), and thus grew even more fearful.

"Marcus, please! Stop! Take it back! I don't want it anymore! No….NOOOOO!"

Marcus gave one final scream, as did Kursed screaming "TAKE IT BACK!". The air was filled with the brightest light possible, forcing everyone to shield their eyes and keep it that way for what felt like an eternity. Win was rushing all about and the air was filled with mystical sounds. All at once, the screams both stopped. Every bit of the flash faded away, from the wind to the brilliant light, and the onlookers were finally able to see what had happened.

What Fox and Krystal saw nearly made them burst into tears at the sight of it. Marcus was lying on the ground back in his normal form, his eyes closed and his body limp. As they approached him to see if he was alright, they heard groans from nearby. They turned and saw Kursed standing there, panting and looking all around here. Her gaze rested on the two and her angry expression returned as she raised her hand. The two flinched, but then saw it was unnecessary. Nothing happened.

Kursed looked at her hand in disbelief and horror, and yelped out in fear was she heard a loading gun behind her.

"That was my daughter you killed, you bitch…" Wolf growled.

Kursed began panting even louder and looked over to Krystal before saying something that struck the blue vixen's heart.

"Sister…please don't let them kill me…please."

Kursed slowly trudged toward Krystal with her arms outstretched, practically begging to her. While no one could see it, Krystal was conflicted. What her sister had done was inexcusable. She needed to be punished for what she had done…but then again, this was her sister. They were family, weren't they?

Krystal walked toward Kursed and gently pulled her into a loving embrace. Wolf lowered his gun and Fox nearly cracked a warm smile. It seemed like the two sisters had finally put their conflict away…that is, until Fox saw the malicious look in Kursed's eyes and she raised her clawed hand towards the back of Krystal's neck…

…before letting out an ear-splitting scream.

Krystal had seen this coming, and as much as it pained her, she saw she had no choice. The second she sense Kursed's evil intent, she slammed her fist into her sister's chest. The force was so strong that she punched through and to the other side, ripping Kursed's heart apart.

"I'm not your sister…not anymore." Krystal whispered before pulling her now bloody hand back.

Kursed staggered around for a brief moment, blood dribbling from the wound and her mouth before she fell to her knees gagging. She only able to look up at her killer for a few more moments before she collapsed uselessly to the ground and quickly succumbed to her injuries.

At last…at long last…Kursed was dead.

There lay yet another issue, however. Everyone rushed over to Marcus in an attempt to check for any vital signs. Chase laid his hands on Marcus' chest and temples in an attempt to check for a heartbeat. He got no response, so he quickly began pumping his hands up and down on Marcus' chest with Anna breathing into Marcus' mouth in any attempt to get his heart going again.

"C'mon, you son of a bitch! Don't you go dying on me! You've never given up on anything in your life! Don't die on me, Mark!"

Chase and Anna both began to feel tears streaming from their eyes. They were about to lose their best friend in the universe, and even though they were trying their hardest, there was nothing they could do about it.

Suddenly, a figure laid her hands on their shoulders.

"Stand aside, children." Shadow said softly.

While everyone stood back wondering who this mysterious being was, Shadow laid her hand on Marcus' chest and forehead, then closed her eyes. After a few moments, she smiled.

"He is merely comatose. He will not be waking up for some time, but I can assure that he is alive."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but was brought to more confusion when Persephone stepped forward.

"Here is your daughter back, Katherine." she said to Katt. "She will grow up to be strong and beautiful just like her parents, I am sure."

Katt blushed, and thus Persephone turned to Shadow.

"Ah, the great Queen Shadow. You have finally returned home."

Shadow smiled.

"Not for long, but it is nonetheless wonderful to see you again, dear Persephone."

Krystal's confusion was suddenly cast away and she stepped forward.

"Y-your name is…Shadow?" she stammered.

Shadow turned and saw Krystal standing there.

"Oh…my dear Krystal…you have no idea how wonderful it is to see you again."

"You know my…wait, you can't be…"

Strips of blue light encircled Shadow's body and engulfed it before fading away and revealing a Cerinian woman that bared a heavy resemblance to Krystal, albeit being taller with much longer that was clasped behind her, as well as white markings on her face and a brilliant white and gold stola. The second Krystal saw this form, she rushed into Shadow's loving arms with joyful tears streaming from her eyes.

"Mother…" she sobbed.

Shadow held her daughter tightly against her body.

"You are still as beautiful as you ever were, my dear."

"Mother…please come back to Corneria with us."

Shadow sighed.

"I am sorry, Krystal…I cannot do that."  
"Wh-what? Why not?"  
"My time left in the mortal world is quickly growing shorter. Even though I want to stay, I cannot. In a few minutes' time, I will fade away and it will be as though I was not here at all."

"But…"

Shadow looked deep into Krystal's eyes. It was a loving gaze that would soothe anything, even the most savage of beasts.

"You are a grown woman now, Krystal. You have become far stronger and braver than I could ever have foreseen, and for that I am truly proud of you. If your father and brother were here, I am certain they would say the same."

She smirked and looked over at Fox.

"And he's the evidence: you never would have seduced a dashing man like that if you had proved me wrong."

Fox smirked and scratched at the back of his head.

"She's been good to me, ma'am. Better than I can say, really."

Shadow laughed.

"I am happy to hear it."

She looked back at Krystal and gently stroked her cheek.

"Life has been good to you, my dear, and while I may not be with you in physical form, let me tell you that I will be watching over you from above…me, your father, AND Sabre."

Krystal wiped away the last of her tears and hugged her mother once more.  
"Okay…goodbye, Mother."

Shadow parted from her daughter and looked up at the sky.

"My dear husband…you have been waiting to see me for far too long."

She closed her eyes, sucked in a breath, and exhaled it. The exhale echoed throughout the air, and Shadow's body steadily disappeared, leaving nothing more than a wavering blue sphere that slowly ascending up to the heavens until it was out of sight. Everyone watched in wonder and awe as the great queen of Cerinia's soul ascended, but their wonder didn't end there. The moment Shadow's spirit vanished from sight, another light pierced the clouds. The Cerinians were fearful for a moment, having no idea of what was going on before Aileen spoke.

"Fear not, everyone." she said in overflowing happiness. "…the morning has finally come!"

Just as she had said, the haze covering the planet cleared away, revealing the wonderful light of Solar rising of the horizon. The Cerinians held up their weapons and cheered, as did the younger Star Fox members who jumped and pumped their fists as well. Fox smiled and said something he hadn't said in ages long gone by.

"Mission accomplished, team. Back to Corneria."

* * *

**_Thanks for waiting for this one, guys and girls. It took me a while, but I got it done and I'm glad I got it done. And sorry about copping out and going all Dragon Ball Z to finish Kursed off, but I'd say it was nothing short of spectacular, right?_**

**_Not much left to say except we're not done yet. There's still three more chapters to go, so I'm off to work on them and hopefully give you guys a great ending. Until then, see you next mission!_**

**SOUNDTRACK SO FAR**

_Krystal's nightmare/"Save her..."- _"Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

_Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "_Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

_F-Zero race- _"F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

_Space pirate attack- _Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

_Ridley- _Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

_Falcon takes down Ridley- _"The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

_The date- _Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

_Coyote versus the shadows- _"The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson

_The star Lylat- _Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime

_Marcus and Fox/Marcus and Chase- "_Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

_Fox versus Kursed- _"Du Hast" by Rammstein

_Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- _Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)

_The Nightstriker- _"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath

_The death of Commander Dane- _"Mad World" by Gary Jules

_The prisoners of Kew- _Byelomorye Dam from Goldeneye 64

_Escape from Sargasso- _"Hard to See" by Five Finger Death Punch

_Marcus and Wolf versus Master Hand and Crazy Hand- _Final Destination from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

_To Cerinia- "_Laser Cannon Deth Sentence" by Dethklok

_Aileen- _"Working Class Hero" by Green Day (Originally by John Lennon)

_The slaves- _"Forgotten Children" by Tokio Hotel

_Aileen's sorrow- _"Narcissistic Cannibal" by EarlyRise (Originally by Korn and Skrillex)

_Marcus and Aileen- _"Name" by the Goo Goo Dolls

_Aileen versus Aphrodite/Marcus versus Malice- _"This Fire Burns" by Killswitch Engage (suggested by ianagainstcliffhangers. Thanks, man!)

_The river Styx- _"Where the River Flows" by Collective Soul

_Marcus versus Coyote (infected)- _"Mermaids" by Xandria

_Coyote's death- _Laura Palmer's theme from Twin Peaks

_Marcus versus Kursed- _"Magia" by Kalafina

_Krystal versus Kursed- _"Everybody's Fool" by Evanescence

_Engaging the final beacon- _"I Will Not Bow" by Breaking Benjamin

_"I give up..."- _"Leaving Hope" by Nine Inch Nails

_Escape from the Echo- _"Awake and Alive" by Skillet (another one suggested by ianagainstcliffhangers. Thanks again, man!)

_The final battle: Marcus Alpha versus Kursed Omega- _"The Beginning" by ONE OK ROCK (a really awesome J-rock band that you guys need to check out...now!)

_The sun finally rises- _"Calling to the Night" from Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops


End file.
